NASCAR: Fox makes late booth change at Sonoma

Clint Bowyer will not be in the booth for Fox’s final race of the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series broadcast schedule, as he is “handling a personal matter”.

Sunday afternoon’s NASCAR Cup Series race, the Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Sonoma Raceway, is the 16th and final points race on the schedule for the Fox broadcast booth this year.

Fox has tried something new with their booth this year. Instead of naming a third full-time announcer alongside lead announcer Mike Joy and analyst Clint Bowyer following the departure of Jeff Gordon post-2021, they have given several individuals the opportunity to join the booth in that third spot throughout the season.

Tony Stewart, who joined the full-time duo for February’s preseason Busch Light Clash exhibition race at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, the official season-opening Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway, and the March race at Circuit of the Americas, is set to be back in the booth for a fourth time this Sunday afternoon.

However, in a late development, Bowyer himself will not be joining the booth for the 110-lap race around the 12-turn, 1.99-mile (3.203-kilometer) road course in Sonoma, California this afternoon. He is set to be replaced by Larry McReynolds, as he is reportedly “handling a personal matter”.

McReynolds, who is an analyst on the Fox team already, joined Joy and Bowyer in the booth for the race at Dover Motor Speedway back in early May.

The 2022 season is Bowyer’s second season in the Fox booth. He joined Joy and Gordon last year after retiring from full-time Cup Series competition post-2020. In 2020, only Joy and Gordon were in the booth, as Darrell Waltrip was not initially replaced when he retired post-2019.

Tune in to Fox Sports 1 at 4:00 p.m. ET this afternoon for the live broadcast of the Toyota/Save Mart 350. Hendrick Motorsports’ Kyle Larson, the reigning race winner, is set to start from the pole position. Start a free trial of FuboTV now if you haven’t already done so!