Darrell Waltrip To Retire From FOX NASCAR Broadcasts At End Of 2019 Season

The FOX broadcast booth will lose a member of its NASCAR coverage team at the end of the season.

NASCAR Hall of Fame driver and FOX analyst Darrell Waltrip announced Friday that he will retire from FOX Sports’ broadcast team at the conclusion of the 2019 season.

“My family and I have been talking this over the past several months, and I’ve decided to call 2019 my last year in the FOX Sports booth,” Waltrip said via FOX Sports. “I have been blessed to work with the best team in the sport for the past 19 years, but I’m 72 and have been racing in some form for more than 50 years.

“I’m still healthy, happy and now a granddad, so it’s time to spend more time at home with my family, although I will greatly miss my FOX family.”

Waltrip joined the broadcast booth immediately after retiring from the sport in 2000 and has covered more than 330 races and 1,500 practice and qualifying sessions, according to FOX.

The 72-year-old is a three-time Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series champion, winner of 84 Cup races and was inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame in 2012. In 2003, he was inducted into the National Motorsports Hall of Fame, and in 2005 was inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame.