Mike Joy reflects on harsh internet criticism from NASCAR fans

Mike Joy just wrapped up another season covering NASCAR for Fox and knows that some people on the internet aren’t big fans of his. In an interview with Jordan Bianchi of The Athletic, the 74-year-old announcer reflected on the criticism he has received on social media recently.

“There’s now a common thread of people saying that I’ve lost my fastball. And you know, maybe so,” Joy said. “I can’t argue that. There are a number of announcers on TV that sound more exciting, perhaps. But I’ve taken a lot of my cues from (former NASCAR broadcasters) Ken Squier and Barney Hall as I grew up in this business, and Barney in particular would get excited when things are really exciting.

“But otherwise, he wanted to be that kind of friendly, trusted voice, somebody who could toss in a good bit of history of the sport to help explain how we got to where we are and somebody who could be a great traffic cop and really pull the most out of the analysts.”

Joy added: “My job is to have people say at the end of the day, ‘Boy, Kevin Harvick really gave me everything I needed to know about this race and Clint Bowyer really entertained me.’ And if we can do that, then I feel it’s been successful. I love what I do. I love the people I work with, and I’d like to keep doing it as long as they feel that I can contribute enough for us to have a first-class telecast.”

Mike Joy is set to return to Fox NASCAR TV Booth next year

Last week, the Sports Business Journal reported that Joy will return to the Fox broadcast booth in 2025. He confirmed the report with his interview with Bianchi and talked about some of his favorite calls in his career.

“My off-the-cuff answer about my favorite race is the next one,” Joy said who has been calling races for Fox since 2001. “That is probably true at this age more than it ever was. Everybody points to the 1998 Daytona 500 (won by Dale Earnhardt), but I think it’s not because of anything I did or some of the memorable words but because of the way we prepared and reacted (to Earnhardt finally winning NASCAR’s biggest race in his 20th attempt).

“To put that all together, and then have (CBS director) Jim Cornell say, ‘Hey, don’t go to break after the checkered flag because something’s happening here.’ That was pretty magical. That’s the one everybody wants to talk about. The rest don’t all run together, but that’s certainly the one that stands out.”