Joy was born in Chicago, Illinois, and raised in Windsor, Connecticut, where he graduated from Conard High School in West Hartford. He began his career as a public address announcer at Riverside Park Speedway in Agawam, Massachusetts in 1970 while attending the University of Hartford and later Emerson College. He added Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park in 1972 and Stafford Motor Speedway in Connecticut in 1975. Motor Racing Network co-founder Ken Squier noticed his work and MRN hired him as a freelancer in 1975, bringing him on full-time in late 1978. Joy rose through the organization to become co-anchor, general manager, and executive producer of MRN, and in 1981 he was the lead broadcaster for ESPN's first live NASCAR telecast, the Atlanta Journal 500.
In June 1983 Joy moved to pit road as a reporter for CBS' NASCAR coverage, working alongside Ken Squier and Ned Jarrett. Because CBS broadcast relatively few races, he continued calling races for MRN radio in parallel. He also launched The Nashville Network's NASCAR coverage in 1991 as its lap-by-lap announcer, a role he held through 1995. In 1998 CBS elevated Joy to their lap-by-lap announcer position, with Squier moving to the studio host role. The partnership continued until CBS lost its NASCAR television rights after the 2000 season.
Joy joined Fox Sports in 1998 to anchor Formula One coverage on Fox Sports Net, and for the 2001 season moved fully to Fox as part of the network's inaugural NASCAR package. He paired with Hall of Fame driver Darrell Waltrip and crew chief Larry McReynolds for fifteen years through the 2015 season. Four-time champion Jeff Gordon joined the booth in 2016 with McReynolds shifting to a race strategist role; Waltrip retired after 2019. Clint Bowyer joined the broadcast in 2021, and Kevin Harvick was added full-time in 2024.
From 2001 through 2024 Fox broadcast the Daytona 500 and the opening fifteen NASCAR Cup races of each season, along with the all-star events. Joy also anchored NASCAR Cup coverage on FS1. In September 2008 Fox sent him to call a Minnesota Twins versus Tampa Bay Rays Major League Baseball game in which the Rays clinched their first playoff appearance in franchise history.
Among the most significant moments Joy called was Dale Earnhardt's 1998 Daytona 500 victory, Earnhardt's twentieth attempt to win the race. In 2001 he was on the microphone as Kevin Harvick, replacing the late Earnhardt, won his first career race in just his third start, edging Jeff Gordon by 0.006 seconds. In 2003 he called Ricky Craven's victory over Kurt Busch at the Carolina Dodge Dealers 400 by 0.002 seconds, then the second-closest finish in NASCAR history. In 2007 he described Kevin Harvick's last-lap pass of Mark Martin to win the Daytona 500 by 0.02 seconds, and in 2016 he called Tony Stewart's final career victory at the Toyota/Save Mart 350.
Joy is a charter member of the NASCAR Hall of Fame Voting Panel and was named sole media representative to the Hall's exclusive nominating process in December 2013. He was inducted into the Riverside Park Speedway Hall of Fame in 2000 and the New England Auto Racers Hall of Fame in 2019. In 2011 he received the Henry T. McLemore Award, recognizing career excellence in motorsports journalism, an honor voted on by past winners. A 2014 Sporting News poll of network television NASCAR announcers and analysts ranked Joy first with a 93 percent approval rating. In August 2025 The New York Times named him one of "The 25 Most Impactful Sports TV Play-by-play Voices of the 21st Century."
Joy resides near Winston-Salem, North Carolina with his wife Gaye. He served four elected two-year terms on the Windsor, Connecticut Town Council.