Michael Waltrip to join brother Darrell on Fox NASCAR coverage in 2012

by NASCARKrissy on Sep 29, 2011 2:45 PM EDT in NASCAR Sprint Cup Series

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Michael Waltrip looks on during qualifying for

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series IRWIN Tools Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway in August.

Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images.

Fox has added two time Daytona 500 winner and current team co-owner Michael Waltrip to its prerace show for 2012 with Jeff Hammond moving from the "Hollywood Hotel" studio to the pits and garage.

Michael Waltrip will join his older brother, Darrell, and host Chris Myers in the studio for the prerace show according to a Fox release.

Fox covers the first 13 races of the season and will continue with the one-hour prerace show.

"Michael is simply one of NASCAR’s most gregarious, genuine personalities, and we loved the dynamic between him and Darrell when we paired them up on occasion last season" said Fox Sports Media Group President Eric Shanks in the release. "Michael has also featured in numerous television commercials over the last decade, which makes him familiar to a much broader audience. I expect a lot of ‘gotta see’ TV coming out of an all-Waltrip Hollywood Hotel next season."

Michael Waltrip retired from full-time racing after the 2009 season, and has worked for Speed on it’s Camping World Truck Series broadcasts and as an analyst on Showtime’s "Inside NASCAR."

According to the release, the plan for Hammondd is to use his experience as a former NASCAR crew chief to work the garage and pits throughout the raceday.

Jeff Hammond has been with Fox’s NASCAR coverage since the beginning. For those that don’t know Fox started broadcasting NASCAR races in 2001.

"We’re excited about Jeff’s new role," Shanks said. "It’s a first for televised NASCAR coverage, and no one knows more about cars than Jeff does. Now he’ll be in a much better position to cover and humanize that side of the sport for viewers."

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And now I will never watch a FOX race again.

Nationwide Writer for SBNation's Nascar Ranting & Raving (www.4ever3blog.com)
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by Troy J. on Sep 30, 2011 5:06 PM EDT reply actions