New Fox Sports NASCAR analyst Jeff Gordon made his race broadcasting debut during last night’s season-opening Sprint Unlimited, and the new-look booth received mostly favorable reviews. The race, which was won by Denny Hamlin’s No. 11 Toyota at Daytona Int'l Speedway and held before an estimated 35,000 fans, according to the Daytona Beach News-Journal, was the first NASCAR event in the newly renovated facility. ESPN.com’s Ryan McGee tweeted, “Little while ago I watched 10 mins of #NASCAR practice & @JeffGordonWeb taught me like 3 things I didn't know. So...good hire.” SB Nation’s Jordan Bianchi: “Fox has done a nice job incorporating Jeff Gordon into its coverage while not completely diminishing Larry McReynolds’ role.” But media commentator John Daly added: “Same addiction to zooming in live and trying to be cute and fancy. Just let us watch the racing.”
Meanwhile, NASCAR Sprint Cup Series team the Wood Brothers, NASCAR’s oldest team, revealed on Friday that it has withdrawn from the Race Team Alliance. The move comes amid the fallout from it being confirmed that the team did not receive one of 36 charters -- NASCAR’s version of a franchise -- since it did not meet the prerequisite of having run full time since ’13. The decision not to make an exception for the Wood Brothers has drawn the ire of NASCAR’s vocal fan base. The RTA, which was founded in the summer of ’14 as a new way to represent NASCAR teams’ interests, now has 17 affiliated teams.
