NASCAR posthumously honored Steve Byrnes by awarding him the Squier-Hall Award for NASCAR Media Excellence on Saturday.
Byrnes, who died of cancer April 21 at the age of 56, will be honored during the induction ceremony Jan. 22 at the NASCAR Hall of Fame in Charlotte.
“He had such respect from everyone in the garage because of the way he conducted himself,” said Winston Kelley, executive director of the NASCAR Hall of Fame. “He was reporting the story, but he knew he wasn’t the story. He’s one of the few people I never heard anything bad said about. That’s difficult in an industry like this.”
Byrnes covered NASCAR races for FOX, working most recently as the play-by-play announcer for NASCAR Camping World Series telecasts on Fox Sports 1. He also worked as a pit reporter for FOX telecasts of NASCAR Sprint Cup races from 2001 to 2014.
“For three decades, Steve’s hard work and humanity brought NASCAR fans closer to their favorite drivers,” NASCAR Chairman and CEO Brian France said in a statement. “His passion for the stories and people he covered was always reflected in his work. Steve was respected for his professionalism and adored for his easy demeanor.”
The award is named for Ken Squier, the former commentator for CBS telecasts, and Barney Hall, the former voice of MRN broadcasts. Previous winners are Squier, Hall, Chris Economaki and Tom Higgins.
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