NBC Sports is set to dump its play-by-play NASCAR announcer for an all-analyst lineup headlined by Dale Earnhardt Jr.
The network will use three analysts in the broadcast booth for next week’s NASCAR Cup race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Earnhardt, the 15-time most popular NASCAR driver, Jeff Burton and Steve Letarte will be the only broadcasters for the July 22 race at the Magic Mile.
Rick Allen, the lead announcer for NASCAR on NBC since 2015, will call the second-tier Xfinity Series race and will contribute to NBC’s Cup Series practice and race coverage.
Earnhardt’s name value and blossoming effort behind the mic has made Allen expendable. He’s been an early star on NBC thanks partly to his ”slide job!” exclamations.
With four announcers crowding the booth this season, NBC said it would experiment. Last week, the network had Letarte chiming in from a spot stationed on pit road.
”We have a multi-option offense, and are again excited to try a different booth setup for our NASCAR Cup Series race broadcast in New Hampshire,” NBC Sports executive Sam Flood said. ”We’re putting people in positions to make it fun for the audience and the `NBC Race Team Broadcast’ will bring a unique and different perspective to the race.”
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