NASCAR announcer hints surprising Fox decision for 2024

Fox’s portion of the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series broadcast schedule is in the books. But they may not totally shelve the booth approach they took in 2022 and 2023.

Following the first 16 races of the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series season — 18 if you include the Busch Light Clash preseason exhibition race and the All-Star Race at North Wilkesboro Speedway — Fox’s portion of this year’s Cup Series broadcast schedule is behind us, with NBC and USA Network set to take over for the rest of the regular season and the playoffs.

Beginning in 2022, Fox took a different approach to the broadcast booth. Instead of replacing Jeff Gordon, who left after their 2021 portion of the broadcast schedule to focus on his new role as Vice Chairman of Hendrick Motorsports, with a full-time analyst, they kept the third spot open for various guest analysts to call races alongside full-time announcers Mike Joy and Clint Bowyer.

When they announced that they were taking this approach again in 2023, it was believed that they were keeping the third spot free of a full-time analyst so that they could hire Kevin Harvick to take it following his retirement.

Harvick, who had long been linked to a broadcasting career following his driving career, indeed announced that he will be retiring after the 2023 season, and Fox confirmed his addition to the booth for 2024.

However, that apparently doesn’t mean that they will stop bringing in guest analysts during NASCAR Cup Series races in 2024.

Joy, at the end of a tweet in which he corrected an on-air broadcasting mistake (which he first corrected on-air as well) during Sunday afternoon’s race at Sonoma Raceway, mentioned the fact that he is looking forward to getting back in the broadcast booth during the 2024 season, along with Bowyer and Harvick.

He also mentioned that there are plans to have “occasional special guests”, which is somewhat of a surprise, given the fact that they now have three full-time announcers lined up for the first time since 2021.

While this doesn’t mean there will be somebody new in the fourth spot every or even close to every week, it does hint that Fox plans to continue their approach of keeping things fresh during their portion of the calendar.

Guests from the 2023 season included Tony Stewart, Danica Patrick, Jamie McMurray, and Kurt Busch, among others.

NBC is set to kick off their portion of the 2023 schedule on Sunday, June 25 with the Ally 400 at Nashville Superspeedway. The race is set to be broadcast live beginning at 7:00 p.m. ET. Take advantage of FuboTV’s free trial offer today and tune in!