NASCAR: Fox confirms third booth member for first two races

Fox has announced who will join Mike Joy and Clint Bowyer in the broadcast booth for the Busch Light Clash and the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series season-opening Daytona 500.

Four-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Jeff Gordon spent six years in the Fox broadcast booth for Cup Series races following his retirement as a full-time driver in 2015, but he left after the network’s 2021 portion of the schedule to focus on his new role as Vice Chairman of Hendrick Motorsports.

That move left lead announcer Mike Joy and analyst Clint Bowyer in the booth for 2022, but Fox still opted to go with a three-person booth instead of reverting to the two-person booth they used in 2020 with Joy and Gordon, when Bowyer was still driving. Darrell Waltrip retired after Fox’s 2019 portion of the schedule.

In 2023, they are taking the same approach, an approach that has led some to believe that they are keeping the third spot free for 2024 after Kevin Harvick retires from driving.

Harvick has long been linked to a broadcasting career following his driving career, and he recently announced that the 2023 season would be his last.

Like they did in 2022, Fox have announced that Tony Stewart is set to join the booth for the first two races on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule.

The three-time Cup Series champion is set to join Joy and Bowyer for the Busch Light Clash preseason exhibition race at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on Sunday, February 5, and he is set to join them again for the official season-opening Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway two weeks later on Sunday, February 19.

Nothing else about the booth has been confirmed about Fox’s schedule, which runs through the June 11 race at Sonoma Raceway and, including the Busch Light Clash and the All-Star Race, features 18 events. Stewart was also in the booth for last year’s race at Circuit of the Americas.

The Busch Light Clash is set to be broadcast live on Fox from Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum beginning at 8:00 p.m. ET on Sunday, February 5, and the 65th annual Daytona 500 is set to be broadcast live on Fox from Daytona International Speedway beginning at 2:30 p.m. ET on Sunday, February 19.