Larry McReynolds bids farewell to boothmates

Larry McReynolds bid farewell to the booth and his mates, race announcer Mike Joy and fellow analyst Darrell Waltrip, following the Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Sonoma Raceway.

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“I have to say I feel like the most blessed man on earth to stand beside you guys for 15 years,” McReynolds said after FOX Sports 1 signed off with its 16th and final race of 2015.

Last month, FOX announced that four-time champion Jeff Gordon would join Joy and Waltrip in the booth in 2016, replacing McReynolds.

“Love you, brother,” Waltrip said as McReynolds embraced him and Joy.

On a “FOX Sports Live” post-race report, Joy said he still planned to work with McReynolds next season.

“We’re going to add Jeff Gordon to the booth,” Joy said. “I’m going to keep Larry real close for all his race strategy beginning in 2016.”

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On Friday, McReynolds told SiriusXM NASCAR Radio that the race and the transition ahead would be difficult for him.

“I’m looking forward to my next role whenever we kind of get our arms around what that’s going to be with FOX, but it’s probably going to be very tough the next three days,” McReynolds said. “But especially when that producer comes in our ear on Sunday and says, ‘The booth is clear.’ “

The two-time winner of the Daytona 500 as a crew chief will continue to serve as an analyst on FOX Sports 1’s weekday “NASCAR Race Hub” program as well as its “NASCAR RaceDay” and “NASCAR Victory Lane” shows for the rest of the season.

McReynolds also took a page from Gordon’s playbook and tweeted on Saturday that he is not retiring.