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FOX Sports Honors Health Care Workers Across the Country with Special Grand Marshal Initiative to Kick off Sunday’s Race

Mike Joy, Jeff Gordon and Larry McReynolds Call Race from Charlotte Studio; Regan Smith Reports Live from Darlington

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – FOX NASCAR resumes its 20^th consecutive season of coverage at historic Darlington Raceway on Sunday, May 17 (3:30 PM ET on FOX), with a live broadcast of the first NASCAR CUP SERIES race in 10 weeks. Sunday’s 400-mile event marks the first of seven races at two tracks across three series in the span of 10 days, all airing on the FOX family of networks and the FOX Sports app. The NASCAR XFINITY SERIES returns to Darlington on Tuesday, May 19 (8:00 PM ET on FS1 and FOX Deportes), followed by a second NASCAR CUP SERIES race, a midweek 300-miler, on Wednesday, May 20 (7:30 PM ET on FS1 and FOX Deportes).

To honor those who selflessly have been on the front lines of the COVID-19 battle, NASCAR, FOX Sports and its local affiliates have selected 36 health care workers from various markets across the country to serve as special grand marshals for Sunday’s return race at Darlington. These local heroes appear in an on-air mosaic to simultaneously give the command to start engines. NASCAR drivers, who have been paired with these local heroes, will be posting videos to their social channels to honor these individuals on Thursday, May 14, around 7:00 PM ET.

Mike Joy, Jeff Gordon and Larry McReynolds call Sunday’s race from the FOX Sports studios in Charlotte. Reporter Regan Smith covers the action live from Darlington. Race producer Barry Landis is based in Charlotte with the broadcast team, while director Artie Kempner is positioned at the track. FOX Deportes broadcasters, play-by-play announcer Tony Rivera and analyst Jessi Losada, are live from the FOX Deportes studios in Los Angeles. A special edition of NASCAR RACE HUB airs on Sunday (3:00 PM ET on FOX) immediately prior to the race.

“We are thrilled for the return of FOX NASCAR this weekend and are incredibly honored to use this time to acknowledge health care workers across the country as they help us kick off Sunday’s race from Darlington,” said Mark Silverman, President, National Networks, FOX Sports. “The health and safety of our employees and all involved remains paramount, and we will continue working in lockstep with our partners at NASCAR and the racetracks to follow all national, state and local health guidelines.”

Adam Alexander, Michael Waltrip and NASCAR CUP SERIES driver Clint Bowyer call Tuesday’s NASCAR XFINITY SERIES Darlington race from the Charlotte studio with at-track reporting by Smith. NASCAR RACE HUB airs at 7:00 PM ET on FS1 immediately preceding the Xfinity race. For Wednesday’s NASCAR CUP SERIES encore at Darlington, Joy, Gordon and McReynolds return to the studio for the call with reporter Matt Yocum live from the track, with a 6:30 PM ET edition of NASCAR RACE HUB airing immediately before on FS1.

Following Darlington, NASCAR heads to Charlotte Motor Speedway for a four-race run that kicks off with the 61^st running of the COCA-COLA 600 on Sunday, May 24 (6:00 PM ET on FOX and FOX Deportes), its customary Memorial Day Weekend spot.

Below is the FOX NASCAR broadcast schedule for the current slate of the next seven races:

About FOX Sports

FOX Sports is the umbrella entity representing FOX Corporation’s wide array of multi-platform US-based sports assets.  Built with brands capable of reaching more than 100 million viewers in a single weekend, the business has ownership and interests in linear television networks, digital and mobile programming, broadband platforms, multiple web sites, joint-venture businesses and several licensing relationships.  FOX Sports includes the sports television arm of the FOX Network; FS1, FS2, FOX Soccer Plus and FOX Deportes. FOX Sports’ digital properties include FOXSports.com and the FOX Sports App, which provides live streaming video of FOX Sports content, instant scores, stats and alerts to iOS and Android devices. Additionally, FOX Sports and social broadcasting platform Caffeine jointly own Caffeine Studios which creates exclusive eSports, sports and live entertainment content. Also included in FOX Sports’ portfolio are FOX’s interests in joint-venture business Big Ten Network, a licensing and commercial relationship with The Stars Group that created the FOX Bet sports betting platform and the FOX Sports Super 6 free-to-play game, as well as a licensing agreement that established the FOX Sports Radio Network.