Report: Shannon Spake, FOX Sports part ways

Shannon Spake and FOX Sports are parting ways, according to former USA Today columnist Rudy Martzke. She was a key part of the network’s NASCAR coverage and served as an NFL sideline reporter.

Spake joined FOX Sports in 2016 and began covering NASCAR for the network in 2019 as a host. She also served as an anchor during NASCAR Cup Series and Xfinity Series races, as well as hosting NASCAR Race Hub since 2017 on FS1.

In addition to her NASCAR duties, Spake served as a sideline reporter for NFL broadcasts. She spent seven seasons covering the league as the reporter teamed with play-by-play announcer Kenny Albert and analyst Jonathan Vilma. That crew is staying together this year as FOX shakes up its NFL coverage as part of a ripple effect caused by Tom Brady’s addition. Brady will join Kevin Burkhardt in the No. 1 booth as Greg Olsen moves back to the No. 2 team alongside Joe Davis.

Although the play-by-play teams are in place, the sideline reporters are not, according to Awful Announcing. Now, it appears at least one will be out after Spake’s reported departure.

Shannon Spake joined FOX Sports after previously working at ESPN. She held a variety of roles for the network while contributing to NASCAR, NFL Draft, NBA Draft and college football coverage. Prior to that, she worked for FOX with SPEED as the host of NASCAR Nation and Backseat Drivers.

FOX announced plans to cancel Race Hub in May after nearly 15 years on the air. The show’s final episode aired last month, and the reaction was swift.

“We also had news that (NASCAR) Race Hub is ending, after I think 15 years,” Denny Hamlin said on his Actions Detrimental podcast. “It sure was convenient to be on cable. I don’t care, it’s on a sports network. For me personally, right, I would always go into a restaurant or something, and it’s casually on. … I mean, I’m serious. It would replay. They have it on FS1, constantly. So it just would replay throughout the week, even when it wasn’t in its designated time-slot.

“So I think trying to switch it to a YouTube platform, I’m not totally sold on that. I still think it’d be better to have something on cable. I understand that there’s some sports that don’t have a daily show, but I think it was certainly an asset for our sport to have, for sure.”