Fox’s Mike Joy refutes ‘clickbait’ rumor he was fired

Mike Joy has not been fired by Fox, with the fact that he was back calling Sunday’s NASCAR race from Kansas Speedway serving as proof.

The 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season is the first of a seven-year media rights deal that saw Amazon Prime Video join as a partner. Fox aired the first 14 races of the season, followed by five on Prime Video and five more on TNT Sports before the schedule wraps up on NBC.

As part of the new deal, practice and qualifying sessions have aired on Prime Video, even during Fox’s portion of the schedule. The NASCAR on Fox crew of Joy, Kevin Harvick and Clint Bowyer have called those qualifying sessions on Prime Video. This past Saturday, however, Joy was noticeably absent from the broadcast.

In the wake of the 75-year-old’s absence, a social media account claimed Joy was “relieved of his duties effective immediately” because he “repeatedly said ‘highly incorrect statements on air’ during last week’s qualifying broadcast at Texas.”

The rumor probably wouldn’t have gained much traction considering it was started by an X account with less than 250 followers, but Joy himself gave it a surprising influx of attention by responding to the report.

“Sigh. Anonymous BS clickbait,” Joy wrote. “See you tomorrow (Sunday) on FS1.”

Joy may have had a day off from the NASCAR on Fox broadcast, but it didn’t mark his last day in the booth. As promised, Mike Joy was back on-air Sunday afternoon as Kyle Larson dominated the AdventHealth 400 at Kansas Speedway.

While Joy doesn’t appear to have been “relieved of his duties,” he won’t be covering practice and qualifying session on Prime Video again this season. Next week is the All-Star Race on Fox, followed by the Coca-Cola 600 which begins Prime’s portion of the NASCAR schedule. And during Prime Video’s race portion of the broadcast schedule, their own team of Adam Alexander, Steve Letarte and Dale Earnhardt Jr. will broadcast the practice and qualifying sessions.