Rick Allen, a longtime NASCAR commentator, has recently opened up about his sudden departure from his broadcasting job at NBC following the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season. Allen breaks silence on the “Dale Earnhart Jr.’s Dirty Mo Media” podcast about his exit from NBC.
Allen, who was the voice of NBC’s Cup Series coverage for over a decade, was replaced by Leigh Diffey as lead play-by-play announcer in August 2024. This change came after the mid-season break, with Diffey debuting at the Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona International Speedway and Allen shifting to call Xfinity Series races. Now, the CW will broadcast the Xfinity race in 2025, bringing in their own team.
On the latest episode of “Dale Jr. Download,” two-time Xfinity Series champion Dale Earnhardt Jr. sat down with his former colleague Rick Allen. On the podcast, the veteran broadcaster shared new insight about his exit from NBC and how he learned about it. Allen and Dale Jr. were colleagues in the NBC booth between 2018 and 2023.
“I found out about that the day before the Hall of Fame in January [2024], think it was like the 18th or something. I found out the day before at a lunch,” Allen said.
“As a matter of fact, at that time, they said I was going to do up until, they didn’t know exactly how many races, but they were going to have Diffey do the last however many races. I didn’t understand that. I guess I didn’t know why that would be the way you would transition somebody in and me out. I didn’t know why,” he continued. [1:15:00]
“I carried that with” me”—Rick Allen was not happy with NBC job switch
Rick Allen worked as a commentator for NBC between 2015 and 2024. During his tenure, he led coverage for numerous NASCAR races and some IndyCar Series events as well. Before that, Allen worked with FOX Sports for over a decade in various roles and was best known for his play-by-play broadcasting in the NASCAR Truck Series.
Having a decade-long experience in broadcasting, Allen was left frustrated over how NBC handled the announcement of his removal from the NASCAR Cup Series broadcast booth.
“I carried that with me. The news didn’t come out until later, and they told me there was nothing going to come out, then all of a sudden it didn’t, and they told me not to do any release or response.” Allen explained that the switch hit him hard.
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Edited by Yash Soni
