NASCAR: Darrell Waltrip replacement confirmed for Charlotte

Tony Stewart is set to make his final Fox broadcast booth appearance of the season during this Sunday evening’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Nobody has joined lead announcer Mike Joy and driver analyst Clint Bowyer in the Fox broadcast booth more often than Tony Stewart has so far this NASCAR Cup Series season, despite the fact that the three-time champion hasn’t announced a race since Sunday, April 23.

Stewart is set to make his seventh appearance in the booth in this coming Sunday evening’s Coca-Cola 600, the series’ longest race of the year, at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Stewart made his first appearance of the season in the Busch Light Clash preseason exhibition race at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. He returned for the official season-opening Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway two weeks later.

He also joined the full-time duo at Auto Club Speedway, Atlanta Motor Speedway, Bristol Motor Speedway (dirt), and most recently at Talladega Superspeedway.

Fox has brought in guest analysts to fill the third spot alongside Joy and Bowyer since the start of the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series season.

Former full-time announcer Jeff Gordon left after the network’s portion of the 2021 broadcast schedule, ending a six-year run so that he would be able to focus on his then-new role as Vice Chairman of Hendrick Motorsports.

Aside from Stewart, Fox has brought in Danica Patrick, Kurt Busch, Guenther Steiner, Larry McReynolds, Bobby Labonte, Rusty Wallace, Richard Petty, Kyle Petty, Carl Edwards, Bill Elliott, Darrell Waltrip, and even Chase Elliott when he was sidelined from driving with a broken left leg earlier this season.

Darrell Waltrip joined Joy and Bowyer most recently, doing so during last Sunday night’s All-Star Race at North Wilkesboro Speedway, a track that hadn’t hosted a Cup Series race since 1996.

Next year, the network is set to go back to having three full-time announcers, as Kevin Harvick has already confirmed his plans to join the booth after ending his 23-year driving career at the end of the 2023 season.

Tune in to Fox at 6:00 p.m. ET this Sunday, May 28 for the live broadcast of the Coca-Cola 600 from Charlotte Motor Speedway. Begin a free trial of FuboTV now if you haven’t already done so!