Mike Joy speaks to the media during a press conference during practice for the 2016 Daytona 500
Sarah Crabill/NASCAR via Getty Images

Mike Joy Divides NASCAR Fans With "Keyboard Warriors" Comment During Phoenix Race

Mike Joy may be the play-by-play announcer for FOX NASCAR's coverage of the Cup Series, but the 73-year-old veteran broadcaster played the role of Clint Bowyer and added a little bit of color to his commentary during the United Rentals Work United 500 at Phoenix Raceway. NASCAR fans have had a major issue with the amount of ads aired during Cup events for some time now, and Joy directly addressed those fans with a seriously snarky send-off right before Fox cut to the final full-screen commercial break with 85 laps left in the Phoenix race.

"Now for all the keyboard warriors, I'm going to do this in words of one syllable. The last green flag full-screen break of this race comes right now," Joy said.

Well, as expected, the keyboard warriors came out in full force on Twitter following Joy's on-air comments.

Naturally, because the internet is divided on just about everything, there were other fans who came to Joy's defense and appreciated his tell-it-like-it-is approach.

Of course, Joy didn't have time to reach out to every single fan who had an opinion about his "keyboard warriors" quip, but he did respond to one fan who had this "concise" criticism: "Hey Mike Joy. I'm going to put my opinion of you in single syllables. You suck. #Retire."

"Thanks for being concise," Joy responded. "I value the opinions expressed here, and I don't block anyone. As a race fan, I share many of your concerns. As a broadcast professional, I know why some things cant easily change. Hope you enjoy the race as much as we enjoy bringing it to you."

Joy also wrote back to a Twitter user who suggested having less full-screen commercials during races.

"It worked then but not now," Joy wrote. "We'd be out of business after two races. Nascar charges TV nearly $25M per race in rights fees. Add production costs and it takes a lot of commercials each week to try to break even."

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