FOX NASCAR Announcer Mike Joy Lists His 5 Favorite Daytona 500s

• This Sunday’s 66th edition of the Great American Race will also mark the 45th time announcer Mike Joy has been involved in the broadcast.

• Joy’s first Daytona 500 in 1976 is also No. 1 on his list of the most notable 500s he’s been part of.

• While he knows 50 years of covering the 500 would be a significant milestone, Joy’s focus is on what’s happening this week.

Some NASCAR fans or reporters may think they’ve achieved a significant milestone if they’ve attended, say, 5 or 10 editions of the Daytona 500.

But FOX Sports' lead NASCAR play-by-play announcer, Mike Joy, has most everyone beat when it comes to longevity of broadcasting the 500, as this Sunday’s 66th edition of the Great American Race will also mark the 45th time Joy has been involved in the broadcast as either lead announcer (the last 23 years in that role for FOX), turn announcer or pit reporter.

“People often ask me what’s my favorite race, and my answer has always been ‘the next one,’” Joy told Autoweek. “I’m pretty amazed at the longevity I’ve had in this business because obviously there’s a lot of talented broadcasters in NASCAR.

“Somewhere, the traits I’ve developed in storytelling and trying to get the most out of my analysts still resonate at FOX and I’m just blessed that they still give me this opportunity, so I try to make the most of it. It’s always different, what happens in each race is always unexpected and it’s still just a thrill to do. The first one was and so this one will be.”

The 74-year-old New England native now calls North Carolina home. But for 45 years in late winter, Daytona has been his home away from home. While he knows 50 years of covering the 500 would be a significant milestone, Joy’s focus is on what’s happening this week, not what may happen five more years from now.

“My goal is to absolutely do the best job I possibly can, get the absolute most out of my analysts and leave the booth feeling we’ve done a good job telling the story—and then we’ll see what happens next,” he said.

Joy’s first Daytona 500 in 1976 is also No. 1 on his list of the most notable 500s he’s been part of.

“As the race wound down to a two-car battle, Richard Petty’s pit was just overflowing with people,” Joy recalled. “I’m standing behind the Wood Brothers’ (pit) on the last lap of that race. We couldn’t see the cars crashing in Turn 4, but we could sure hear Ken Squier over the radio and on the public address system, ‘Petty and Pearson sliding, slamming into the wall.’

“And everybody just froze until we could finally see David’s car come to the entrance to pit road and chug its way across the finish line. And then everybody in that pit started running to victory lane, including me, and there I was with the Wood Brothers in victory lane and taking pictures on my little box camera and I thought to myself, ‘This is the greatest thing in the world.’ And that’s still my No. 1 500.”

When it comes to this year’s race, Joy said he’ll reveal his pick for the winner during the broadcast, joined by analysts Clint Bowyer and recently-retired driver Kevin Harvick. But even without giving his pick prematurely, Joy still has a strong observation about how the race day field shapes up.

“I do know Toyota is very proud of the changes they’ve made to the car, particularly the nose,” Joy said. “The last couple of years, it’s taken the Toyotas a while to get into winning form, and I think this year they’re going to be good right out of the box. Ford is always good at Daytona and Chevrolet has been playing catch-up, especially with the front end design of their car.

“Walking into Daytona is kind of like walking down the yellow brick road and then The Wizard fires up the machine and everybody goes out on track and says, ‘Let’s see what we’ve got.’ Trying to predict what’s going to happen becomes very difficult.”

The last three editions of the 500 were won by unexpected drivers: Michael McDowell (2021), Austin Cindric (2022) and defending champ Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (2023). But Joy expects a past NASCAR Cup champion to be the likely winner this year.

“For the last three years in the Daytona 500, we’ve had an outlier driver in victory lane, somebody who was not one of the favorites, somebody who might have ended up in the high 20s or low 30s in points, a surprise winner,” Joy said. “I think this is the year that the Daytona 500 goes back to the best drivers, the champions of the sport, that conquer Daytona and make it happen. I think whoever stands in victory lane is somebody who has a championship trophy sitting at home.”

Still, this IS Daytona, where anything and everything can and typically does happen, particularly impacted by one or more “big one” crashes during the 200-lap event (barring additional overtime laps), especially in the final laps which dramatically changes up who the potential winner will be.

“There are so many, especially when you consider Jimmie Johnson is an outlier,” Joy said. “He’s a part-time driver, he’s going to increase his schedule, he’s won the race (2006 and 2013), so we know he can, and there’s a new manufacturer for them (Toyota), so I think he’s probably the biggest outlier of outliers.

“I also put Christopher Bell and Tyler Reddick in that category. They’re not known for being great racers at Daytona, but they are great racers. There’s good possibilities there.

“There’s hardly anybody who can’t win the Daytona 500 when the green flag drops. And I think that’s what‘s going to make our story on FOX this year so compelling. You’ve got a lot of changes, drivers in new places, a couple of resurgent Mark Martin-type drivers back for their second try at Cup, how are they going to do, and you have a lot of changes up on the roof with spotters. I can’t think of another year where so many spotters have changed teams and drivers. I think the Daytona 500 at this stage is it’s 100 percent unpredictable.”

Harvick, who retired as a driver after last season, replaces a rotating group of guest analysts, where he’ll join Bowyer. Joy has already had numerous meetings and phone calls with the two guys who will share the broadcast booth with him, saying his preparation and note taking for this year’s race is a “months long” process.

“Kevin, Clint and I have had meetings together and I think we’re trying to grow together as a group,” Joy said. “Kevin and Clint were teammates twice, at Richard Childress and Stewart-Haas, but you’re not always closest to your teammates because they’re the kind of guys that you most have to beat because they’re going to have the same exact stuff as you do.

“I’m really excited about this year and building this new FOX team. I think the three of us, once we find our lane, we and the viewers can have a lot of fun.”

Autoweek asked Joy to list his five favorite Daytona 500s:

Mike Joy's 5 Favorite Daytona 500s

1976

“Just the idea that two of NASCAR’s greatest-ever drivers, on that last lap, both refused to lose, and what happened and how it happened and the vantage point I had will always stay with me.”

1979

“I was a turn announcer in Turn 2 and you hear on the radio call; Barney Hall and Jack Arute were in the booth for MRN. Jack goes, ‘They’re in Turn 2 in front of Mike Joy.’ You’ll hear the excitement in my voice as I go, ‘It’s Richard Petty!’ and then Darrell (Waltrip) was behind him and then A.J. (Foyt).”

2007

“Mark Martin is leading at the white flag. Here poor Mark has won everything in NASCAR except the championship and the Daytona 500. And here comes Harvick and he has help. Harvick wins the race while the whole field crashes behind him. I’m sure we’re going to replay this (during Sunday’s race). Harvick winds up in victory lane and Bowyer winds up on his roof in the grass. Everyone asks me what is the wildest finish in the Daytona 500 ever? I tell them, ‘Just watch the tape, 2007 tops them all.’”

2011

Trevor Bayne wins. … Jeff Gordon was drafting during practice with Trevor and when I asked him why he was doing that, he said Trevor’s car ‘was bad fast.’ … Trevor did a great job, but that was Leonard Woods’ 500 right there.”

1998

“The anticipation of what might happen I think made that one of the most compelling telecasts ever, to where with two laps to go, the whole country is pulling for Dale (Earnhardt) and probably wouldn’t even remember who was running second.’ That was my first 500 in the (TV) booth (as the lead play-by-play announcer). That was quite a telecast.”