Motorsports Journalist | Reporter | Feature Producer
BROADCAST VETERAN
Matt Yocum is a long-standing motorsports journalist, best known for his role as a NASCAR pit reporter. Following a 20-year career as a pit reporter for NASCAR on Fox, Yocum made the move to CBS to cover the Superstar Racing Experience (SRX) as a pit reporter and feature producer, as well as returned to NBC Sports as a pit reporter for IMSA sports car racing.
Yocum literally grew up in the NASCAR garage and has more than 25 years of experience as a motorsports television broadcaster and 30 plus years in the auto racing industry.
In 2001, Yocum joined FOX and NBC/TNT in a trailblazing scenario that made him the only broadcaster in the sport’s history to work every NASCAR Cup Series TV network broadcast for six straight years, and he recorded an impressive streak of 334 consecutive races between 1998 and 2007. As well as a record twenty-straight Daytona 500’s as a pit reporter on network television.
Additionally, Yocum served as a pit reporter for TNT’s six Cup Series races each summer through the conclusion of its multi-year coverage in 2014. He could also be found working pit road for FOX Sports coverage of the IMSA Weather Tech Sports Car Series premier events including the Rolex 24 at Daytona.
IN-DEMAND REPORTER
Yocum’s TV career began in 1992 as a sports reporter, producer, and anchor at NBC affiliates in Orlando, Fla., and Bristol, Tenn. Besides a lengthy history with FOX Sports, the former Ormond Beach, Fla., resident also has covered auto racing on pit road, in the broadcast booth, and hosted for TNN, SPEED, SPEEDVISION, TBS, TNT, ESPN, ABC, NBC and HBO Pay-Per-View.
Between 1995 and 1998, Yocum worked as a pit reporter for TNN’s NASCAR Cup, Xfinity, Camping World Truck Series, NASCAR touring series race broadcasts, and TNN’s all motorsports show Raceday, before moving to ESPN in 1999, then onto his role with FOX-NBC/TNT in 2001.
From 2007 through 2012, Yocum hosted the HBO PPV celebrity charity racing event, “The Prelude to the Dream,” at Ohio’s Eldora Speedway. Besides TV, Yocum broadened his media platform by co-hosting one of the most popular shows on SIRIUS/XM Satellite radio, Tony Stewart Live and The Stewie Awards, which aired throughout the NASCAR season with co-host and three-time NASCAR champion Tony Stewart.
Yocum returned to the airwaves in 2017, when he joined NASCAR champion Kevin Harvick for “Happy Hours”, a weekly NASCAR talk show on SIRIUS/XM Satellite radio. The two co-hosted the show through 2020.
Besides his storytelling in front of the camera, Yocum was busy as the lead feature producer for the CBS and ESPN SRX-Superstar Racing Experience broadcasts.
AWARD-WINNING CAREER
Through the years, five-times Yocum has worked on broadcasts that won Emmy’s for Best Show. In addition, he’s won two Associated Press Sports Feature Awards for NASCAR coverage, along with Telly Awards for his Pit Reporting at the NASCAR All-Star race, the NASCAR documentary “NASCAR’S Greatest Drivers”, and 2008’s Chili Bowl Nationals HBO PPV midget car race. In 2009, he earned two National Motorsports Press Association (NMPA) Awards for features on Hall of Fame driver Fred Lorenzen and a Father’s Day feature highlighting Ken and David Ragan.
ROOTED IN MOTORSPORTS | BACK WHERE IT ALL BEGAN IN BROOKLYN, MICHIGAN
Yocum’s background is unique for broadcasters in NASCAR TV. His mother, Mary Yocum, began her 35-year career on the business side of motorsports at the Michigan International Speedway in 1968, and later would go onto own her own motorsports sponsor services and corporate entertainment company.
Matt grew up at the track alongside the sport’s legends. Beginning at an early age, he learned all aspects of the racing world, from selling programs at age six in the grandstands at the Michigan International Speedway to summer work on the track maintenance crew at age nine.
As a high school and college student, Yocum worked for the International Race of Champions (IROC) between 1984 and 1991, first as a tire specialist and later in race car preparation and maintenance.
Away from the TV world, Yocum has a motorsports consulting company and focuses on documenting vintage race cars and racing memorabilia.
PERSONAL
Yocum graduated from Florida State University in 1991 with a degree in Political Science and Communications. A member of Sigma Phi Epsilon. He currently resides in Huntersville, N.C., with his daughter, Madison. Follow Yocum on X (Formerly Twitter) at @MattYocum.