zzdcar
Home
/
Reviews
/
Racing
/
NASCAR's Driver-Only Broadcast Team Next Month Could Be Great Or A Big Mess
NASCAR's Driver-Only Broadcast Team Next Month Could Be Great Or A Big Mess-February 2024
2024-02-19 EST 22:11:22

In June, things are going to get pretty weird in NASCAR broadcasting. For the first time, the entire broadcast team will be active drivers—the booth, the pit-road reporters and everyone else. Fox Sports, the broadcaster for that race, said they have free rein “as long as no one sets fire” to the booth. Uh, yikes?

According to NASCAR’s , the entire broadcast team for the Xfinity Series race at Pocono Raceway on June 10 will consist of current Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series drivers. remains to be seen, but what’s certain is that expectations don’t sound super high.

For now, the plan is that Kevin Harvick will lead play-by-play commentary in the booth alongside Joey Logano and Clint Bowyer. Ryan Blaney, Erik Jones and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. will cover pit road, while Danica Patrick and Denny Hamlin hang out in the Hollywood Hotel that checks in on the broadcast periodically. NASCAR said the race is “thought to be” the first time a nationally televised live event has featured an active athlete-only broadcast team.

Kevin Harvick is admittedly great in the broadcast booth—so long as his , Austin Dillon, doesn’t get out of line—but he’s never led play-by-play. Harvick, like any of the other drivers who have stepped in the booth for a lower-series NASCAR race, have only been there to add insight to the broadcast.

Mike Joy, who’s , handles lap-by-lap commentary and all of the catchy advertising lines that are supposed to be thrown in the middle. He weaves everything together, no matter how scattered conversation gets. Doing that is a whole lot more involved than playing backup, regardless of how much experience you have.

Only Harvick, Bowyer, Hamlin, Logano and Patrick have been driver analysts in the booth in the past, according to the announcement, which means almost half of the broadcast team will be, uh, lacking in experience.

But that doesn’t seem to matter, because Fox Sports is just doing this for the heck of it—not to be polished. From the announcement:

“This is something FOX Sports has talked about doing for a long time,” said John Entz, FOX Sports President & Executive Producer, Production. “Several of these competitors already have joined us in the NASCAR XFINITY Series booth and done a heck of a job, and we see a lot of promise in the newcomers. Regardless of their TV experience, we have one goal for all — go out and have a blast. As long as no one sets fire to the FOX Sports booth or pulls the plug that knocks us off the air, the drivers have free rein.”

Heck, maybe Entz could go talk to all of our bosses about expectations. If we all just had to come into work and not break things or burn them down, the world would be a much less stressful—but maybe less productive—place.

Comments
Welcome to zzdcar comments! Please keep conversations courteous and on-topic. To fosterproductive and respectful conversations, you may see comments from our Community Managers.
Sign up to post
Sort by
Show More Comments
Racing
The First 2020 Toyota Supra With a 2JZ Swap Is Here
The First 2020 Toyota Supra With a 2JZ Swap Is Here
Toyota claims it partnered with BMW on the , in part, because it wanted to keep an inline six-cylinder powertrain which . Of course, to purists, that was never going to be enough, and now it looks like somebody has already started work on the first new Toyota Supra with...
Feb 12, 2026
The 2019 Mint 400 Is Live Here Right Now
The 2019 Mint 400 Is Live Here Right Now
Just a friendly reminder: the 2019 off-road race is running outside of Las Vegas this weekend and the production value of the livestream that’s running right now is legit. Check it out! As Hunter S. Thompson famously wrote: “In some circles, the ‘Mint 400’ is a far, far better thing...
Feb 12, 2026
F1 to Bring Back Championship Point for Fastest Lap in Each Race: Reports [Updated: It's Happening]
F1 to Bring Back Championship Point for Fastest Lap in Each Race: Reports [Updated: It's Happening]
won’t just look different in and this year, although we’ve had time to accept those changes by now. It may also look different in terms of points, because reports are that for the first time in decades, F1 is set to reward the driver with the fastest lap in each...
Feb 12, 2026
NASCAR Driver Michael McDowell Shrugs Off Scrapping With Competitor Daniel Suarez
NASCAR Driver Michael McDowell Shrugs Off Scrapping With Competitor Daniel Suarez
NASCAR drivers Daniel Suarez and Michael McDowell got into a bit of an altercation in pit row at Busch Pole Qualifying on Friday. Things looked a little intense from , but commentators and McDowell didn’t appear to be too fazed. Apparently Suarez couldn’t get around McDowell in the first round...
Feb 12, 2026
USF2000 Driver Starts St. Petersburg Race With A Barrel Roll
USF2000 Driver Starts St. Petersburg Race With A Barrel Roll
Crashing is just part of racing, especially where young and ambitious racers are concerned. USF2000 racers are generally younger and less patient at the wheel, which makes for some interesting racing, and also some serious potential for disaster. This young racer, Alex Baron, found out the hard way during Saturday’s...
Feb 12, 2026
Watch Fernando Alonso's Face as He Buries the Brake Pedal in a 2020 Toyota Supra
Watch Fernando Alonso's Face as He Buries the Brake Pedal in a 2020 Toyota Supra
Racing icon did some hot laps in the 2020 Toyota Supra at Fuji International Speedway for a Toyota video. And while his commentary isn’t particularly interesting, I think there’s some truth in his facial expressions. I mean, you can’t expect an objective road test of a Toyota on a Toyota...
Feb 12, 2026
Copyright 2023-2026 - www.zzdcar.com All Rights Reserved