If there’s one thing that best describes NBC Sports’ 2024 in motorsports, it is change; not a whole lot in motorsports is the same now for NBC Sports as compared to 2023.
Those changes started before the season even began. In the first regular episode of The Dale Jr. Download for 2024 in February, Dale Earnhardt Jr. revealed that his deal with NBC expired at the end of 2023, making him a free agent. At the time, he wanted to remain at NBC Sports and had had conversations in order to do that. At the same time, he’d had discussions with other media partners.
The situation was more than just where Earnhardt might be in the booth. Remember that he has his own production company, Hammerhead Entertainment. The Dale Jr. Download had episodes on Peacock, in addition to the two seasons of Lost Speedways. Those shows on the streaming service technically hung in the balance as well.
Read all of Frontstretch‘s content looking back on 2024 here
As you know by now, Earnhardt was unable to come to a deal to stay with NBC for 2024. Instead, he signed a deal to join both Amazon and Warner Bros. Discovery for 2025. As a result, he spent the year out of the booth.
As of this writing, The Dale Jr. Download episodes are no longer available for viewing on Peacock. Lost Speedways, which is billed as a Peacock original, is still available.
Earnhardt’s departure resulted in NBC returning to a three-man booth of Rick Allen, Jeff Burton and Steve Letarte, which it used from 2015-2017 before Earnhardt retired. It seemed like that was going to be it for the changes.
Not so. Last year, NASCAR signed a deal with Nexstar Media Group that will result in the full NASCAR Xfinity Series schedule to air live on The CW starting in 2025.
With NBC being a lame duck with the Xfinity Series, there were discussions about it joining forces with The CW to allow it to get a head start on its relationship with the Xfinity Series. At the same time, NBC lost rights to the NTT IndyCar Series starting in 2025 to FOX Sports.
A plan was instituted to shake up its on-air personalities knowing that some of those involved with the IndyCar broadcasts would be leaving the company at the end of the year. After months of rumors, NBC announced a new plan for its broadcast booth in August.
Leigh Diffey, who had previously served as NBC Sports’ play-by-play commentator for the IndyCar Series in addition to his work on Olympic broadcasts, would move to NASCAR starting with the Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona International Speedway.
I wasn’t a fan of how this was handled. You were hearing rumblings about this situation as far back as June and NBC just left Allen out there to dry. Pretty terrible way to treat someone who had worked hundreds of races for you.
How did this scenario come together to put Diffey in the booth? We had the pleasure of asking Diffey back in October at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta.
Allen would still be in the broadcast booth, but only for the Xfinity broadcasts. A deal was announced that starting at Bristol Motor Speedway in September, the final eight Xfinity races of the year would air on The CW with Allen on the call. NBC would continue to produce the broadcasts.
Putting Diffey in the broadcast booth led to a change of energy. He’s a naturally enthusiastic man and was easily able to channel that from IndyCar to NASCAR. While he had only called a couple of Cup races back in 2017 previously, it was ultimately like he had never left.
Broadcasts featured pit reporters being embedded with teams on their pit boxes during stage two. This was a novel idea but could be problematic at times. For instance, Iowa Speedway was NBC’s first Cup race of the year. That race had a series of tire issues during the embedment that weren’t covered properly.
The early portion of the NBC schedule just couldn’t buy a break in regards to the weather. Three of the first four weeks were plagued by rain, including a second straight year at the Chicago street course.
The playoffs continued to play a big role in the broadcasts as the season continued on. When NBC allowed itself to get away from that, the broadcasts were quite enjoyable. When it focused on the playoffs, it got annoying.
Despite that, there were plenty of good times for the Cup Series with NBC in the second half of 2024. Unfortunately, NASCAR’s own rules ruined some of the races late in the year. For example, both Kansas Speedway and Talladega Superspeedway were plagued by NASCAR’s Damaged Vehicle Policy wreaking havoc. Changes in real time at Talladega threw everyone into a tizzy, but NBC did a good job explaining the chaos.
When NBC was at its best in 2024, it was excellent. When it was at its worst, the results were rather exasperating. The main issues had to do with focus, namely focusing on the wrong things or focusing too much on any one issue.
Yes, production meetings (both in-person and via conference call) form the storylines that often make up broadcasts. But they cannot be the end-all. The race itself should drive storylines as well.
That said, I didn’t have to worry about some of the same issues that I did with FOX. We didn’t have a constantly revolving door of guest analysts. There weren’t any uncomfortable silences or accusations of working broadcast while hung over.
On The CW, things seemed to continue like normal. A CW Xfinity broadcast really didn’t feel all that different from an Xfinity broadcast on the USA Network. Because it wasn’t.
What was different was a series of issues in viewing the race. The move to The CW was a last-minute deal. As a result, a number of affiliates, especially early on, pre-empted the race in favor of alternate programming. I’ve heard of informercials airing in place of the race, USL soccer, college football and a number of other shows.
That situation should be rectified for 2025, but affiliates do have the final say on what airs on their stations. Such a scenario used to come into play way more often in the past for all kinds of reasons, often because of personal beliefs.
For 2025, it seems like it will be more of the same for NBC. Diffey will be back on play-by-play for the full NBC portion of the NASCAR season, along with Burton and Letarte (Letarte will also be on the Amazon Prime Video and TNT broadcasts). It appears that there will be little turnover in the pits as well.
The only differences will be the fact that NBC will only be airing Cup races in 2025 and every race will be streamed on Peacock in addition to linear TV. That fact will correct a couple of issues from this past season, like at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
The Xfinity Series will be full time on The CW with new production from NASCAR Productions. We don’t know who will be calling the races as of yet. My guess is that the on-screen graphics will look a lot like what NASCAR streams to foreign markets on its YouTube channel and unlocks for United States users a couple of days after the race. Having NASCAR itself produce the race is a bit of an unknown.
About the author
Phil Allaway has three primary roles at Frontstretch. He's the manager of the site's FREE e-mail newsletter that publishes Monday-Friday and occasionally on weekends. He keeps TV broadcasters honest with weekly editions of Couch Potato Tuesday and serves as the site's Sports Car racing editor.
Outside of Frontstretch, Phil is the press officer for Lebanon Valley Speedway in West Lebanon, N.Y. He covers all the action on the high-banked dirt track from regular DIRTcar Modified racing to occasional visits from touring series such as the Super DIRTcar Series.
A daily email update (Monday through Friday) providing racing news, commentary, features, and information from Frontstretch.com
We hate spam. Your email address will not be sold or shared with anyone else.
I got tired of, and annoyed with, Diffey after a couple of races. I wish they would have gotten rid of him.
So is Rick Allen gone from NBC, or did they re-assign him to something else?
I don’t mind Diffey. Hopefully his growing pains from this year will be worked out for next year.
Didn’t, Like how they hung Allen out to dry last year, he is a terrible announcer as he hypes things up way too much, but deserved better. Differ gets annoying really quick, has somehow hypnotized many in media telling us how great he is. Hopefully Mazda never gets into NASCAR as he butchers that name constantly! I’m sure he’s a hard worker and nice guy but his dialect is just so annoying. And I’m one who also thinks Dale Jr has a horrible voice for Any broadcasting… screeching like a little girl when things get exciting. His takes are great, delivery ear splitting.
However I do like Letarts input, as he brings such a different perspective, that is current and informative.
100% agree on Jr, I don’t like him in the booth.
And I do like Letarte, too.
I think Rick Allen will be with Junior and LeTarte next year.
Adam Alexander is the lead PXP for the Prime/WBD Sports races.