NASCAR: Darrell Waltrip to retire from Fox Sports broadcast booth after 2019
By Asher Fair
Former NASCAR Cup Series driver Darrell Waltrip is set to retire from the Fox Sports broadcast booth after the network’s 2019 Cup Series broadcast season concludes.
Former NASCAR Cup Series driver Darrell Waltrip, who has been a member of the Fox Sports NASCAR broadcast booth since the network became an official broadcast partner of the sport back in 2001, has announced that the 2019 season will be his 19th and final season in the booth.
While the 2019 Cup Series season is not scheduled to end until mid-November, the final race of the season that is set to be broadcast live on Fox or Fox Sports 1 is scheduled to take place on Sunday, June 23.
This race, the Toyota/Save Mart 350, is set to be broadcast live on Fox Sports 1 beginning at 3:00 p.m. ET from Sonoma Raceway in Sonoma, California.
The Tennessean was the first to confirm that Waltrip, 72, is set to leave the Fox Sports broadcast booth at the end of the season, and this news was later confirmed by the network. Here is what Waltrip had to say about the matter, according to NASCAR.
"“My family and I have been talking this over the past several months, and I’ve decided to call 2019 my last year in the FOX Sports booth. I have been blessed to work with the best team in the sport for the past 19 years, but I’m 72 and have been racing in some form for more than 50 years. I’m still healthy, happy and now a granddad, so it’s time to spend more time at home with my family, although I will greatly miss my FOX family.”"
Waltrip also revealed in an exclusive interview with The Tennessean, which you can read here, that he has known that the 2019 season would be his last season in the Fox Sports broadcast booth since the season began.
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During his career as a Cup Series driver, Waltrip competed in 809 races and earned 390 top 10 finishes, including 276 top five finishes and 84 victories, a win total that is tied for fourth place on the all-time Cup Series wins list.
Only Richard Petty, David Pearson and Jeff Gordon have earned more victories than Waltrip did throughout his Cup Series career, as they won 200, 105 and 93 races, respectively. Waltrip’s career win total is tied with that of Bobby Allison on this list.
Waltrip led 23,134 of the 237,773 laps that he completed and recorded an average career starting position of 13.7 and an average career finishing position of 15.1. He won three championships, including back-to-back championships in the 1981 and 1982 seasons an another championship in the 1985 season.
The Fox Sports broadcast team for the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series season has not yet been confirmed.