Just days after receiving a tribute from NASCAR, Fox Sports’ Steve Byrnes has died.
Byrnes passed away Tuesday at age 56 after a battle with head and neck cancer. He was initially diagnosed in August 2013 and suffered a recurrence late last year. His death comes two days after NASCAR renamed its race from Bristol in his honor.
A longtime NASCAR broadcaster, Byrnes worked for Fox Sports since the network acquired rights to the sport in 2001. He primarily served as a pit reporter for Sprint Cup races on FOX, but also hosted studio shows and served as the lap-by-lap voice of the NASCAR Truck Series.
In a recent interview on NASCAR.com, Byrnes said NASCAR’s Bristol tribute was “more than overwhelming. … My first reaction was there must be somebody else named Steve Byrnes who spells it with a ‘y.'”
Byrnes is the latest sports media figure to pass away due to cancer. ESPN SportsCenter anchor Stuart Scott died of the disease in January and sportswriter Bryan Burwell passed in December.
(Fox Sports, NASCAR.com)
