NASCAR: Who is replacing Jeff Gordon in the booth?

Jeff Gordon returned for one NASCAR Cup Series race in the Fox broadcast booth this past Sunday. Who is set to replace him?

Ahead of the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series season, Fox confirmed that they would be operating with a different looking broadcast booth for their portion of the schedule, which began with the Busch Light Clash exhibition race at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on Sunday, February 6 and runs through the race at Sonoma Raceway on Sunday, June 12.

This confirmation came following the departure of four-time Cup Series champion Jeff Gordon, who had spent the last six years in the booth alongside lead announcer Mike Joy.

Following the retirement of three-time champion Darrell Waltrip in 2019, Gordon and Joy were the only two individuals in the booth in 2020. Clint Bowyer joined them in 2021 after retiring from Cup Series competition, so Gordon’s post-2021 departure meant that the 2022 season would see a fourth straight year with a different booth.

But for one race, that booth looked the same as it did last year, as Gordon returned for this past Sunday’s race at Atlanta Motor Speedway, the fifth points race of the season.

He hadn’t been in the booth since the All-Star Race at Texas Motor Speedway last June, and he hadn’t been in the booth for a points race since the race at Sonoma Raceway the week prior.

Gordon left the booth full-time after Fox’s portion of the 2021 schedule to become the vice chairman of Hendrick Motorsports.

He is now the second-ranking member of the team to chairman and majority owner Rick Hendrick. He is the lone partner in the organization for which he drove throughout his Cup Series career from 1992 to 2016 (full-time from 1993 to 2015).

Hendrick had long said that Gordon would be the man who takes over his spot at the helm of the organization following his retirement, so it was no surprise for anybody to learn that this expanded role had been in the works for the 93-time Cup Series race winner for many years.

Gordon was the fourth individual to fill the spot alongside Joy and Bowyer this year. Three-time champion Tony Stewart led things off for the Busch Light Clash and the Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway before 2003 champion Matt Kenseth joined the for the race at Auto Club Speedway. Danica Patrick then joined them for the races at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and Phoenix Raceway.

The fifth different individual set to join the full-time duo? We don’t know yet.

That is because it is Stewart who is set to return to the booth and join them for this coming Sunday’s race at Circuit of the Americas, which is set to be just the second ever Cup Series race at the track.

Smoke is set to become the first person to return to the booth’s third spot after having been in it earlier in the season.

Tune in to Fox at 3:30 p.m. ET on Sunday, March 27 for the live broadcast of the EchoPark Automotive Texas Grand Prix from Circuit of the Americas. If you have not begun your free trial of FuboTV, do so now!