Dale Earnhardt Jr. will be in the FS1 booth for Clash at Daytona
By Nick Tylwalk
Fans of Dale Jr. would undoubtedly rather see him in the 88 to start the NASCAR season, but hearing him help call the action at Daytona should be the next best thing.
It’s almost time to see Dale Earnhardt Jr. back in action. It just won’t be in the non-points race that starts the 2017 NASCAR Monster Energy Cup Series season.
The Advance Auto Parts Clash at Daytona will take place without Earnhardt, but he’ll still be on hand and playing an active role on Feb. 18. As Fox Sports announced today (and was passed along by Jayski), Earnhardt will be in the Fox Sports 1 booth as part of the announce team as a “guest driver analyst.”
Dale Jr. will join Fox’s usual 2017 team of Mike Joy, Darrell Waltrip and Jeff Gordon. It will be his first time calling Cup Series action of any kind for Fox, though the network notes that he helped with an XFINITY Series race broadcast last summer.
Earnhardt was actually one of the 20 drivers to qualify for the 2017 Clash since he is a former winner of the race. However, due to the concussion he suffered during the 2016 NASCAR season, he’s sitting this one out, preferring to make his return to racing at the Daytona 500.
The #88 Chevrolet will still take part in the Clash, but with Alex Bowman behind the wheel.
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Having a Hall of Famer like DW, another surefire one in Gordon and the sport’s most popular driver all sharing the same booth for the opening night of the 2017 NASCAR season should prove fun. The Advance Auto Parts Clash at Daytona will air on FS1 on Saturday, Feb. 18 at 8:00 p.m. Eastern, with the green flag expected around 8:34.