Rick Allen labored as a play-by-play announcer for NBC between 2015 and 2024, main protection for numerous NASCAR races and a few IndyCar occasions as properly. Earlier than that, he labored with FOX for over a decade in numerous roles the place he was finest recognized for being the voice of the Truck Collection.
However the extremely skilled broadcaster noticed his tenure at NBC finish quietly final 12 months. Allen was changed by Leigh Diffey within the sales space for the 2024 NASCAR Cup Collection playoffs. HE was transitioned to the NASCAR Xfinity Collection as its lead announcer till the tip of the 12 months. The CW now holds the published rights to NASCAR’s second-tier collection, bringing in their very own crew.
Talking on the Dale Jr. Obtain, Allen opened as much as Earnhardt Jr. about his exit from NBC, clearing up some widespread misconceptions. Allen and Earnhardt had been additionally colleagues within the NBC sales space between 2018 and 2023.
How Allen came upon
Allen discovered about that he could be sidelined in favor of Diffey simply earlier than the NASCAR Corridor of Fame induction ceremony in January, 2024. Diffey was working as NBC’s lead announcer for IndyCar on the time, however they had been set to lose the rights to that collection starting in 2025.
“I did not know why. I went into that lunch assembly not having a clue that I wasn’t going to have my contract renewed,” defined Allen. “A pair months earlier, you [Earnhardt] had been within the bus with me once we had been informed by an govt that we had been going to have long-term offers and we had been going to proceed. Our crew was going to remain collectively.”
NBC Sports activities emblem
Picture by: Getty Pictures
However that is not what occurred in the long run. Earnhardt left NBC for a brand new gig with Amazon and Prime Video the place he’ll work as a part of their broadcast sales space after they tackle NASCAR this summer time.Â
“It was scary,” continued Allen. “It was bizarre … I used to be nearly a zombie on the Corridor of Fame — I used to be the MC they usually informed me the day earlier than. I used to be crushed.”
One of many ideas that crossed Allen’s thoughts was across the friendships he had constructed within the sport and what he was going to do if he wasn’t going to have the ability to see them each week anymore. “Do my associates go away?” questioned Allen. “How does this have an effect on my life? And so, that was a crushing blow on that January day.”
Because the information unfold, Allen remained quiet, partly as a result of executives informed him to not reply publicly. He regrets that now, believing it will have been higher if he cleared the air as a substitute of letting hypothesis unfold surrounding why he was changed. “Public notion was that I had executed one thing improper,” defined Allen.
Speaking with Michael Jordan
He informed a narrative about when he went {golfing} at Michael Jordan’s golf course when the NBA legend and 23XI Racing co-owner approached him.Â
“I had by no means met Jordan … I had been round him a pair occasions however by no means talked to him. The very first thing that Jordan says to me after I went as much as him at his golf course: ‘What’d you do man?’ And I used to be taking a look at him and I used to be type of pondering that I do not know what he was speaking about right here. And he goes, ‘How come you are not asserting the races? You are NASCAR. Why aren’t you asserting races anymore? What’d you do?’
That second hit Allen like a ‘ton of bricks,’ realizing what number of probably thought he had executed one thing improper to warrant his sacking from NBC. He was bothered by the truth that folks did not perceive why he exited NBC, and once more talked about how he would have preferred to have dealt with it otherwise.
You may watch all the interview HERE, which delves into a number of matters as Earnhardt and Allen talk about his profession within the broadcast sales space.Â
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