NASCAR: Who is replacing Tony Stewart in the booth?

Tony Stewart was in the Fox NASCAR booth for the Busch Clash and the Daytona 500. With the third seat in the booth set to see multiple drivers in 2022, who is next?

Four-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Jeff Gordon stepped away from the Fox NASCAR booth following the 2021 season, his sixth season in the booth alongside lead announcer Mike Joy.

Gordon stepped down from his booth duties to focus on his new role as vice chairman of Hendrick Motorsports, making him the second-ranking member of the team to chairman and majority owner Rick Hendrick. Gordon spent the entirety of his 25-year Cup Series career competing for Hendrick.

As a result, there were questions about the Fox NASCAR booth heading into the 2022 season and what it would look like. The booth had seen a different combination of announcers in each of the last three years, meaning that even more changes would be on the horizon for 2022 following Gordon’s departure.

Darrell Waltrip stepped down after the 2019 season, and Fox opted to go with a two-man booth for 2020 with just Joy and Gordon. In 2021, Clint Bowyer joined Joy and Gordon. Joy and Bowyer returned for 2022, but Fox opted not to go with a two-man booth this time around.

Instead, they entered 2022 with plans to use different individuals for that third seat throughout the season.

Three-time Cup Series champion Tony Stewart was named the first individual to occupy that third seat.

Stewart joined Joy and Gordon for the unofficial season-opening Busch Light Clash exhibition race at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on Sunday, February 6, and he joined them again leading up to the Daytona 500 and in the “Great American Race” itself at Daytona International Speedway on Sunday, February 20.

But now Stewart’s run in the Fox NASCAR booth has come to an end. Of course, there is no guarantee that we won’t see him in the booth at some point in the future, but whether or not his return comes during the 2022 season remains to be seen.

Fox and Fox Sports 1 are set to broadcast each of the next 16 races, including the All-Star Race at Texas Motor Speedway.

Now we know which former drivers are set to join Joy and Bowyer over the next few weeks.

2003 champion Matt Kenseth is set to join them for the WISE Power 400 at Auto Club Speedway on Sunday, February 27 (3:30 p.m. ET, Fox), and Danica Patrick is set to join them for the Pennzoil 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Sunday, March 6 (3:30 p.m. ET, Fox) as well as the Ruoff Mortgage 500k at Phoenix Raceway on Sunday, March 13 (3:30 p.m. ET, Fox).

Future announcements regarding the third seat in the Fox NASCAR booth should follow in due time. Fox’s portion of this year’s schedule is set to wrap up on Sunday, June 12 with the 16th of 36 points-paying races at Sonoma Raceway, the Toyota/Save Mart 350.

After an off weekend the following weekend — in fact, the lone off weekend of the 2022 Cup Series season — NBC and NBC Sports Network are scheduled to take over at Nashville Superspeedway on Sunday, June 26 in the Ally 400. Their coverage is set to run weekly throughout the rest of the season, which is scheduled to end on Sunday, November 6 with the NASCAR Cup Series Championship at Phoenix Raceway.