NASCAR: Clint Bowyer aiming to spice up Fox Sports booth
By Justin Jones
Fox Sports’ addition of former NASCAR driver Clint Bowyer to the broadcast booth will surely spice things up throughout the 2021 season.
Fox Sports, which has owned the broadcasting rights to the Daytona 500 and first half of the NASCAR season since 2001, is making changes to its broadcast booth once again by adding former Stewart-Haas Racing Cup Series driver Clint Bowyer to the team.
This will be the third major change in the last five years and the first since longtime color analyst Darrell Waltrip retired at the end of the 2019 season.
The first major change was the addition of the recently retired Jeff Gordon to the booth in 2016. From 2016 to 2019, the booth was manned by Mike Joy as the lead announcer, with color commentators Waltrip and Gordon.
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Gordon, the four-time champion, Hall of Famer and all-time great, hasn’t found that same success in the broadcasting arena. He was not the best replacement for Waltrip as far as color commentating goes.
Gordon is articulate and thoroughly understands racing, but five years into his broadcasting gig, he still comes across as stiff and more of a technical expert than a color commentator.
As NASCAR’s overall ratings have been trending downward for the past few years, Fox cannot afford to take any chances with stale broadcasts.
NASCAR is a sport that requires entertaining commentating to soften dead periods during a 200-lap or 300-lap race.
Enter Clint Bowyer. Bowyer is set to join both Joy and Gordon as the official second color commentator. But he is really coming on to fill the color commentator void left when Waltrip retired.
Gordon is better suited as an analyst complementing Joy’s classic play-by-play.
Bowyer will likely fill dead times with fun anecdotes or humorous quips like Waltrip did.
Although he is just beginning his full-time announcing career, he’s no stranger to broadcasting. He has participated in multiple Xfinity Series broadcasts and made multiple appearances on the Race Day and Race Hub TV shows.
Bowyer will bring a much needed X-factor to an otherwise unbalanced broadcast team. In today’s NASCAR, he has about as much personality as is allowed with the tight leash placed on driver’s comments and behavior. He will undoubtedly liven up the broadcasts. He is a fun and personable guy, and he will be an entertaining character for the more serious Joy and Gordon to riff off of.
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Bowyer and the Fox Sports team’s coverage of the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series season is scheduled to begin on Fox Sports 1 on Tuesday, February 9 at 6:00 p.m. ET with the Busch Clash at Daytona International Speedway.