NASCAR: Tony Stewart to return for Bristol dirt race
By Asher Fair
Tony Stewart is set to return to the Fox booth for this coming Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series dirt race at Bristol Motor Speedway.
Tony Stewart hasn’t been in the Fox broadcast booth since the NASCAR Cup Series race at Atlanta Motor Speedway, but he is set to return for this coming Easter Sunday night’s dirt race, the Food City Dirt Race, at Bristol Motor Speedway, joining the full-time duo of lead announcer Mike Joy and analyst Clint Bowyer.
Stewart opened up the season in the booth, joining Joy and Bowyer for the Busch Light Clash preseason exhibition race at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, plus the official season-opening Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway and the following race at Auto Club Speedway.
Danica Patrick took his place for the race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and Phoenix Raceway, but Stewart returned for the race at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
At Circuit of the Americas, Fox had two guest analysts in the booth and another one who joined remotely. Kurt Busch and Haas Formula 1 team principal Guenther Steiner were in the booth, while Chase Elliott, who remains sidelined with a broken leg, joined via voice and video chat. Larry McReynolds joined for the following Sunday’s race at Richmond Raceway.
Tony Stewart’s schedule consists of three more races in the Fox booth during the network’s portion of the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series broadcast schedule.
He won’t be in the booth next week for the race at Martinsville Speedway, but he is set to return for the GEICO 500 at Talladega Superspeedway on Sunday, April 23.
He is then set to get just over a month off from his announcing duties before reuniting with Joy and Bowyer for the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway on Sunday, May 28.
Fox has been using guest analysts to fill the third seat in the broadcast booth since Jeff Gordon left after their 2021 portion of the schedule to focus on his then-new role as Vice Chairman of Hendrick Motorsports, ending a six-year run as an announcer.
They plan to go back to three full-time announcers in 2024, having already confirmed that Kevin Harvick is set to join after he retires from his driving career.
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Tune in to Fox at 7:00 p.m. ET this Easter Sunday, April 9 for the live broadcast of the Food City Dirt Race from Bristol Motor Speedway. If you haven’t already done so, begin a free trial of FuboTV now!