Jeff Gordon expected back in the NASCAR on FOX broadcast booth next season
By Nick Tylwalk
Though his contract is up now that FOX is done with its half of the 2018 NASCAR season, expect to see Jeff Gordon continue his broadcasting career next year.
It’s always a little strange when the NASCAR season reaches its (roughly) halfway point and the races switch from FOX to NBC. Other major U.S. sports have their contests split between multiple broadcasters, but none have as abrupt a transition as the one when Mike Joy, Darrell Waltrip and Jeff Gordon leave us and are replaced by …
Um …
(Note: That joke won’t be at all funny come this week, when Dale Earnhardt Jr. joins the NBC Sports team for his first race at Chicagoland.)
Anyway, there was some question about whether Gordon, who has been part of the NASCAR on FOX team full-time for three seasons, would return to the booth in 2019 since the first contract he signed with the network has now expired. However, Adam Stern of SportsBusiness Journal says he will indeed most likely be back:
⚡@FoxSports' three-man @NASCARonFox booth — play-by-play announcer @MikeJoy500 and analysts @AllWaltrip and @JeffGordonWeb — are all expected to return for the 2019 season, a source close to Fox tells @SBJSBD.
— Adam Stern (@A_S12) June 25, 2018
— Gordon's deal was expiring after '18 but is now close to renewal. pic.twitter.com/YuXiGqg0LD
There’s no real way to measure how many people watch NASCAR race broadcasts just because of who’s calling them, and given the fact that the sport’s TV ratings have been in decline for most of this decade, the evidence isn’t great that it matters a whole lot.
Still, considering Dale Jr. is about to potentially give NBC a shot in the arm, it’s a good idea for FOX to keep Gordon in the mix. He’s certainly knowledgeable, has more of a sly sense of humor than he’s often given credit for, and while he’ll never rock the boat all that hard, Gordon has spoken his mind about certain NASCAR subjects more openly than many would probably have imagined — though again, you can expect Junior to surpass him on that front pretty quickly.
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As well, Joy and Waltrip either genuinely like working with Gordon on do an awful good job of faking it, so this particular three-man booth works for FOX. Have a good offseason, Jeff, and we’ll see you in eight months for Speedweeks.