What’s Happening?

Following the departure of Dale Earnhardt, Jr. this year, NBC’s NASCAR broadcast booth will reportedly have another change in 2024. Adam Stern of Sports Business Journal reports that lead IndyCar announcer, Leigh Diffey, will be the Lap-by-Lap announcer for Cup Series races sometime after the Olympics. This comes at an interesting time in terms of both NASCAR’s and NBC’s media rights contracts.

• Leigh Diffey first joined NBC in 2013 as the lead broadcaster for Formula One and IndyCar following the retirement of the late Bob Jenkins. Diffey has been the lead IndyCar broadcaster since, including when NBC took over the exclusive TV rights of IndyCar in 2019. He has made sporadic appearances broadcasting NASCAR races since NBC took the NASCAR rights in 2015.
• Rick Allen has been the lead broadcaster for NASCAR on NBC since 2015. Previously, he had broadcasted NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, NASCAR Xfinity Series, and ARCA Menards Series races on FX and Speed Channel. According to Stern, Allen will continue to broadcast all Xfinity Series races through the end of the season.
• Fans are excited to see Leigh Diffey join the Cup Series NBC booth. He has impressed in his few NASCAR broadcasts, and many fans who cross over to IndyCar enjoy his commentary there.

When Will Diffey Take Over?

The report was unclear about which NASCAR races Diffey would broadcast in 2024, but, we can guess based on the 2024 IndyCar and Olympics schedule.

The first NASCAR race after the Olympic break is August 11th, but, that is the final day of the Olympics. IndyCar then has 4 race weekends in 5 weeks following the Olympics. Diffey could do both NASCAR and IndyCar on the same weekend the weekends of August 17th-18th and August 24th-25th, but, that would be a major logistical inconvenience for Diffey.

NBC could take Diffey off of IndyCar coverage towards the end of the season. They did it back in the mid-2010s when Diffey was splitting time between IndyCar and Formula One, but, that’s no guarantee.

While his schedule is busy near the summer’s end, Diffey’s IndyCar schedule is done by mid-September. This means that he is definitely free to do at least 9 Cup Series races towards the end of the season. These are those events.

• September 8th: Atlanta
• September 21st: Bristol
• September 29th: Kansas
• October 6th: Talladega
• October 13th: Charlotte Roval
• October 20th: Las Vegas
• October 27th: Homestead-Miami
• November 3rd: Martinsville
• November 10th: Phoenix

The Future of Leigh Diffey at NBC

Leigh Diffey and NBC are both in an interesting position. NBC’s IndyCar contract is running out at the end of 2024, and it’s uncertain whether or not both parties will renew the relationship. This makes Diffey a potential candidate to move over to NASCAR coverage in 2024 with either NBC or a new party, as long as he doesn’t follow wherever the IndyCar contract goes.

Dale Jr leaving for NBC kicked off the start of NASCAR’s broadcasting Silly Season. If he is gone, what is the future for broadcasters like Rick Allen, Steve Letarte, and Jeff Burton? Could they join Earnhardt Jr. at Amazon Prime and Warner Bros/Discovery?

In that case, Diffey would be an obvious candidate to be the lead NASCAR broadcaster at NBC. He has years of experience broadcasting motorsports at a high level and has been well-received in his NASCAR broadcasts.

Is this the start of Diffey transitioning to NASCAR? Time will tell, but, seeing him do NASCAR this year is something that will be fun to watch.