What’s Happening?

NBC is reportedly bringing Leigh Diffey in to be a lead announcer for NASCAR Cup Series races after the Olympics according to Adam Stern. This means that Rick Allen will be out of the booth for at least a few Cup Series races later this season, and Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s exit from NBC means the future for NBC is very cloudy. How likely is it that Rick Allen could move over to Amazon in the near future?

• Rick Allen has been with NBC since they acquired the rights to NASCAR in 2015. While other announcers like Leigh Diffey and Dave Burns have filled in sporadically, the vast majority of NASCAR Xfinity and Cup Series races on NBC have featured Allen as the lead announcer. Before this, Allen worked with Fox Sports and Speed on Xfinity Series, Truck Series, and ARCA broadcasts through the 2000s into the early 2010s.
• NBC’s NASCAR coverage will be cut back starting in 2025. They will only broadcast 14 Cup Series races (Down from 20 in 2023), while the entire Xfinity Series schedule moves on to The CW. The other NBC Cup Series races will go to Amazon Prime and Warner Bros. Discovery. NBC’s contract with IndyCar is also up after 2024.
• Fans are interested to see which broadcasters will slot where in the new NASCAR TV deal. With Earnahardt Jr. gone from NBC, it seems anything goes.

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Rick Allen’s Standing at NBC

Rick Allen is in an interesting position at NBC. Leigh Diffey, who is taking over for Allen for an undetermined length of time after the Olympics, has been at NBC longer than Allen has.

Diffey joined NBC in 2013 to broadcast Formula One and IndyCar, two years before Allen joined to broadcast NASCAR. Diffey has been there longer than Allen, and NBC is about to see a potential cut to their motorsports rights with the future of IndyCar and IMSA on the network uncertain.

Think back to 2015. Diffey was busy broadcasting IndyCar and Formula One every week, so, NBC needed an extra broadcaster to handle the NASCAR races. Allen was an experienced broadcaster who was available, so, they brought him in.

As of right now, the only motorsports coverage NBC has locked down is 14 NASCAR Cup Series races. Even if they add IMSA, there are only 10 events on the IMSA WeatherTech Sports Car Championship Clanedar. NBC likely only needs one lead broadcaster for those races, so, do they choose the NASCAR staple in Rick Allen or another talented broadcaster with seniority in Leigh Diffey?

Rick Allen’s Other Options

The issue is deeper than just what the future of Rick Allen at NBC is. Chemistry on a broadcast is incredibly important, and it is something that can only be built with time. Allen and Earnhardt Jr. have worked together since 2018, so, what if Allen joins Earnhardt Jr. at Warner Bros. Discovery?

This recent move by NBC could mean one of two things. Either NBC wants to elevate Diffey to NASCAR if the IndyCar TV contract is not renewed, or, Allen is on his way out at NBC. It’s also possible NBC just wants to experiment, which, they like to do.

Either way, Allen jumping ship is far from an impossibility. If Earnhardt Jr. can walk, then anyone can move on to a new broadcast partner. Bringing in a lead announcer who has worked with Earnhardt Jr. in the past could be a major win for Amazon and Warner Bros. Discovery.

Will Rick Allen return to NBC in 2025? It’s going to be fun to watch how the broadcasting Silly Season plays out over the next year or so.