Report: Longtime NASCAR Broadcaster Shannon Spake OUT at Fox Sports
What’s Happening? Longtime NASCAR host and pit reporter Shannon Spake will reportedly seek a new home in 2025. Rudy Martzke reports…
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New media rights partners for 2025 mean plenty of NASCAR broadcasters could be on the move. Broadcasting Silly Season is ready to heat up, and these are a few current and potential NASCAR broadcasting free agents.
What’s Happening? Longtime NASCAR host and pit reporter Shannon Spake will reportedly seek a new home in 2025. Rudy Martzke reports…
Rudy Martkze reported earlier this week that Shannon Spake and Fox have parted ways. This frees up a very experienced NASCAR host and pit reporter, as Spake has covered NASCAR on television for nearly 20 years. The question is, where can she go?
NBC seems to have the host spot locked down with Marty Smith, but Amazon and Warner Bros. Discovery is more interesting. Another person on this list could be fit for that role, or Spake could slot in there as well. Either that, or Spake could become a pit reporter once again, which she did for eight years covering NASCAR on ESPN.
What’s Happening? NBC is reportedly bringing Leigh Diffey in to be a lead announcer for NASCAR Cup Series races after…
With IndyCar leaving NBC, the network now has two motorsports play-by-play commentators, Rick Allen and Leigh Diffey, with fewer races to cover. Adam Stern reported in the spring that Diffey would take over NASCAR Cup Series play-by-play duties following the Olympic break. Depending on how that goes, could one or both of them be on the move?
Allen could easily move to Amazon/WBD to reunite with Dale Earnahrdt Jr., or Allen could join The CW and commentate the Xfinity Series, which he will do this fall when The CW takes over for NBC for the final eight races. Diffey, however, could be a candidate to move to Fox and continue broadcasting IndyCar, but, that seems unlikely given that he has commentated his final IndyCar race for NBC. Either way, NBC has a choice on their hands.
What’s Happening? On Friday, Adam Stern reported that some movement is happening amongst NASCAR broadcasters. As a new media rights…
Adam Stern reported last week that multiple broadcasters could move to NASCAR’s new TV partners, and one of them was Steve Letarte. Letarte worked as Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s crew chief for four years and the pair shared the NBC booth from 2018 through 2023. Could Dale Jr. recruit Letarte to leave NBC?
Letarte and Dale Jr. maintain a working relationship with Letarte’s “Dirty Mo Dough” podcast on Dirty Mo Media. With that in mind, the two could easily work together again, and Dale Jr. likely has a lot of input on who could join Amazon.
Stern also reported that Marty Smith is a candidate to move with Dale Jr. to Amazon/WBD, potentially as a lead commentator. Smith previously covered NASCAR for multiple outlets throughout the 2000s and early 2010s, and he currently covers multiple sports for ESPN. Could he join NASCAR alongside ESPN?
Amazon/WBD covers NASCAR throughout the summer, which is Smith’s biggest downtime at ESPN given that he primarily covers college sports, and specifically the SEC. The NCAA College World Series and Baseball Tournament might make this a tough sell, but fans would love to see Smith back in NASCAR again.
Stern also reports that Adam Alexander is “The favorite” to take over as the lead commentator for the NASCAR Xfinity Series on The CW. Alexander’s primary role at Fox has been commentating the Xfinity Series, but Fox wrapped up their coverage of the series in June. Why not bring in a familiar face to cover the series?
Alexander would keep some continuity in the Xfinity Series booth, but that’s a big commitment to cover 33 races throughout a season. Marshall Pruett of RACER.com also tabbed Alexander as a candidate for IndyCar on Fox, and Alexander is from Indianapolis.
This is very unlikely, but many NASCAR fans would love to see Allen Bestwick back in the NASCAR booth. He’s currently the TV commentator for UConn Women’s Basketball, and he is the track announcer at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The motorsports connection is still there, but he has a lot of people to contend with.
For whatever reason, Bestwick was not mentioned in Stern’s report. It would be cool to have him back though, especially being someone who commentated over NASCAR during its’ peak in the early 2000s.
Jamie McMurray was another name Stern mentioned in his report. McMurray has drawn rave reviews for his commentary work, both in the studio and in the booth. Could he join Amazon/WBD or NBC? Given that FOX is probably not changing much on the Cup side in 2025, and with them backing off of studio shows, McMurray could be looking elsewhere.
He could be a fantastic addition to NBC should Letarte leave. Dale Jr. might coax McMurray to join Amazon as well, and Amazon could do a four person booth like NBC did during Dale Jr.’s years. Either way, McMurray is one to watch.
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