Mike Joy has been the voice of NASCAR’s FOX broadcast for years; however, that doesn’t take away the criticism the broadcast continues to face. Fans continued to point out many issues with FOX throughout the season’s first half, and as Prime Video’s broadcast schedule came to an end, Joy made a sly comment about their streaming, which did not sit well with many.

“We didn’t make a big point of it. We didn’t get any credit for it; we didn’t ask for any credit for it,” Mike Joy said, defending the FOX broadcast.

The full-screen advertisement that has been hampering the green-flag racing action has been a massive issue for a long time now. But the broadcasters found a way around it, as they managed to run the advertisements while the race was still shown picture-in-picture, so the fans didn’t miss out on the action. As Joy said, FOX didn’t promote this feature as much, but he claimed that since the ‘streaming’ service did advertise it, many credited it.

“We didn’t put up a big sign on the screen that said or say, ‘Okay, we’re commercial-free from here on out.’ We didn’t brag about it. Well, maybe we should have because when the streaming people did, everybody said, ‘Yay, streaming is the best thing ever!'” he added.

This appeared to be a massive dig on the Prime Video broadcast, which recently ended with the San Diego race. The broadcast is largely appreciated for its deep insights and overall quality of production, which, many claim, FOX fails to replicate, despite having the biggest share of the broadcasting schedule. Moreover, there was the fact that Prime Video was arguably very economical with the advertisements they ran.

It is quite understandable that the broadcasters need to put up the advertisements during the races; it is what helps them make a profit. However, NASCAR is extremely unpredictable, and missing out on even the slightest bit of green flag racing action can feel like missing a huge chunk of the race. And with the frequency of advertisements that FOX showcases, not many seem to be too happy.

Moreover, while FOX did attempt not to show any full-screen ads while the race was green-flagged, it eventually did end up happening at Talladega earlier. As the race was running mostly spotless without cautions, the network was forced to broadcast full-screen advertisements twice in the second stage. Understandably, fans were quick to notice this. In fact, many also claimed that after the ‘Big One,’ FOX should have continued with some replays of the crash, but they decided to cut to the advertisements instead.

It is because of these reasons that the broadcast, which Mike Joy is attempting to defend, has been under the radar for most fans. And understandably, his comments did not sit well with many.

Fans are unhappy with Mike Joy as he attempts to defend FOX

“Fox makes a mockery of NASCAR. Amazon treats it like a serious sport,” a fan wrote. For a long time now, many have claimed that FOX’s priorities are showing advertisements and not the race itself, as a sarcastic dig at how most of their broadcasts look.

It seems that the fans have been getting more agitated in recent years, especially after Prime Video joined the broadcasting. The latter is able to provide much better production quality as well, which also appears to be an issue with FOX, as some of the fans seemed to point out.

“The commercial breaks are like 5th on the list of why FOX coverage sucks,” read another comment.

Many claim that FOX is not great with the camerawork during the races, either. Some claim that the broadcast can cut away from the main action, missing out on the key incidents, and even the random zoom-ins on a single car (perhaps to focus on a sponsor) have been pointed out. So it seems quite apparent that the advertisements aren’t the only issue with the broadcast.

But even though Mike Joy continues to defend that, there is more than just full-screen ads that are criticized.

“It doesn’t matter when you go to commercial every 3 laps for the first 2.5 stages,” wrote another fan.

The frequency of the ads that are being shown on the broadcast is also an issue for many. A lot of times, the advertisements can end up becoming the highlights of the race, as they are shown in such high frequency. Every few laps, the commentators, including Mike Joy, step back, and the broadcast moves to showing advertisements. Even though the race continues to go on in a little window for the fans, it can become agitating after a certain point.

It is because of these reasons that the fans have developed a certain distaste for FOX’s broadcast of the NASCAR races.

“I think everybody who watches these races on TV can agree Fox is the worst coverage for NASCAR easily by a mile,” read another comment.

Even though Joy claimed that the streaming services (taking a hit at Prime Video) had their way of advertising the same thing FOX offers, it seems quite apparent that the advertisements aren’t the only reason many criticize their broadcast.