NASCAR: Obvious decision made ahead of Coca-Cola 600

A decision that many had called for regarding the Fox broadcast booth has been made ahead of Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Following the NASCAR Cup Series race at Kansas Speedway, the most recent points-paying race on the 2022 schedule, two Sundays ago, many fans, and even some drivers, called for a change to be made in the Fox broadcast booth.

Fox took a unique approach to the booth for their portion of the 2022 schedule following Jeff Gordon’s departure in 2021. The four-time series champion left the booth after six seasons to focus on his role as vice chairman of Hendrick Motorsports.

But instead of replacing him with a single individual alongside lead announcer Mike Joy and color commentator Clint Bowyer, or rolling with a two-man booth like they did in 2020 following Darrell Waltrip’s retirement in 2019, they opted to fill the third spot on a race-by-race basis, calling upon multiple individuals to join the full-time duo in 2022.

Jamie McMurray, who has been an analyst for Fox NASCAR since stepping away from full-time competition in 2018, joined Joy and Bowyer for the race at Kansas Speedway.

He became the 12th person to occupy the third spot in the booth this year, and he was seen as a natural fit.

His recent experience as an analyst, coupled with his many years of experience as a driver, allowed him to provide unique and valuable insight in the booth, and it led many to call for Fox to bring him on full-time for their 2023 portion of the schedule.

Some even called upon Fox to make the 45-year-old Joplin, Missouri native the permanent third announcer in the booth for their remaining races on the 2022 calendar.

While he was not in the booth for this past Sunday evening’s All-Star Race at Texas Motor Speedway, he is set to join Joy and Bowyer again for another points race, this Sunday night’s Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Beyond this Sunday’s race, Fox has not yet confirmed who will join Joy and Bowyer in the booth. Fox has just two more races on the 2022 schedule beyond this weekend, including the inaugural race at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway on Sunday, June 5 (3:30 p.m. ET) and the race at Sonoma Raceway on Sunday, June 12 (4:00 p.m. ET). Both races are set to be broadcast live on Fox Sports 1.

The following weekend is the lone off weekend of the 2022 season. After that, NBC is set to take over, beginning with their coverage of the race at Nashville Superspeedway on Sunday, June 26 (5:00 p.m. ET).

But first, the Coca-Cola 600 is set to be broadcast live on Fox from Charlotte Motor Speedway beginning at 6:00 p.m. ET this Sunday, May 29. Begin a free trial of FuboTV now and don’t miss it!