When followers tune into the NASCAR Cup Collection race on Sunday, June 28, the channel and presentation will likely be a bit totally different, however they’ll nonetheless be listening to the identical voices which have referred to as the competitors for the previous 5 weeks.
The trio of Adam Alexander, Steve Letarte and Dale Earnhardt Jr. are good at what they do. It’s why they work for a number of NASCAR media companions as they’ve emerged as a fan-favorite mixture within the broadcasting sales space.
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A veteran play-by-play voice, Alexander is a gentle hand who is aware of how you can deal with huge moments. Letarte, the previous crew chief for Jeff Gordon and Earnhardt at Hendrick Motorsports, is an ace on the subject of offering considerate perception on race technique and technical features of the automotive. After which there’s Earnhardt, one of many sport’s most recognizable names who doesn’t shrink back from displaying his pleasure and love for racing.
“With Dale, we’re very lucky in NASCAR that the most important NASCAR fan on this planet can also be the preferred man to have ever competed. He is formally each and it is infectious,” Letarte instructed USA TODAY Sports activities. “I believe Adam and I really simply form of lean off his enthusiasm and, man, we simply have enjoyable. I want it was extra sophisticated. I want there was a secret sauce. However I’ve discovered that whenever you’re having enjoyable, you are an entire lot extra enjoyable to be round, and also you’re an entire lot extra enjoyable to observe on TV.”
This weekend, the NASCAR broadcasting schedule shifts from Amazon to TNT. Its five-race slate begins with Sonoma, the enduring highway course that has turn into a signature occasion on the Cup Collection calendar.
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March 8: Ryan Blaney celebrates profitable the Straight Discuss Wi-fi 500 at Phoenix Raceway.
(Meg Oliphant, Getty Photographs)
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See victory lane celebrations with 2026 NASCAR race winners
March 8: Ryan Blaney celebrates profitable the Straight Discuss Wi-fi 500 at Phoenix Raceway.
(Meg Oliphant, Getty Photographs)
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See victory lane celebrations with 2026 NASCAR race winners
March 1: Tyler Reddick celebrates profitable the DuraMax Grand Prix Powered by RelaDyne at Circuit of The Americas in Austin, Texas.
(Logan Riely, Getty Photographs)
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Feb. 22: Tyler Reddick celebrates profitable the Autotrader 400 at EchoPark Speedway in Hampton, Georgia.
(Mady Mertens, Imagn Photographs)
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See victory lane celebrations with 2026 NASCAR race winners
Feb. 15: Tyler Reddick celebrates along with his household and crew after profitable the 68th operating of the Daytona 500 at Daytona Worldwide Speedway.
(Mike Watters, Imagn Photographs)
And the start of TNT’s protection additionally coincides with the beginning of NASCAR’s in-season problem the place, for the second consecutive 12 months, drivers will face off in a bracket-style competitors over 5 weeks for a prize of $1 million.
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Alexander, Letarte and Earnhardt will likely be within the sales space for all of it, offering the soundtrack to the in-season problem and a few memorable moments on TNT.
“I really like kicking the in-season match off at Sonoma as a result of I believe we’ll have some upsets,” Letarte stated. “What I do not suppose we speak about sufficient is simply the number of venues. Whereas the race is the star, the venue and the realm is absolutely form of what makes it particular. After I take a look at Sonoma, up within the Napa Valley, simply north of San Francisco – we have been persistently coming right here for years, so there is a built-up fan base.”
The asphalt highway course in wine nation first hosted NASCAR in 1969 with Ray Elder taking the checkered flag. Other than 2020, the Cup Collection has gone there yearly since 1989. As Gordon’s crew chief, Letarte obtained a win there in 2006.
NASCAR has some momentum proper now, notching 5 consecutive sellouts for Cup Collection races coupled with sturdy rankings. Letarte expects the environment at Sonoma to be no totally different.
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“I do know Sonoma goes to be electrical. It at all times is. It has a really totally different really feel, but it surely’ll be stuffed with followers,” Letarte stated. “What a ravishing place within the nation. I really feel just like the monitor actually matches the realm, proper? You go wine tasting up within the hills, after which we’ve got this lovely picturesque highway course that goes up and down there in Sonoma.”
This race additionally marks the ultimate one of many season that will likely be contested on a highway or avenue course. Final weekend, for the primary time ever and within the Cup Collection.
Letarte thinks NASCAR has about the right amount of non-ovals on its schedule, however want to see one moved nearer to the postseason.
“You may argue 4 or 5 is the best quantity,” Letarte stated. “I do not love that that is our final of the season. I want we had one nearer to the Chase, if not within the Chase. … I believe NASCAR is doing a great job transferring the schedule throughout. I believe it lets each broadcast accomplice discover their very own id and I believe that is necessary as effectively. It’s nearly like a mini season.”
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When NASCAR has gone to a highway course recently, Shane van Gisbergen has been the main focus. Earlier than crashing out at Naval Base Coronado halfway by final Sunday’s race, the New Zealand native had received six of the final seven races on highway programs. He’s simply two Cup Collection victories away from tying Gordon’s all-time wins report on highway programs – 9.
Regardless of his day ending early final weekend, Letarte nonetheless believes van Gisbergen is the person to beat at Sonoma. The 37-year-old received there final season.
“If we’re turning proper, he must be the favourite till anyone can outright beat him on velocity persistently,” Letarte stated of van Gisbergen. “He isn’t superhuman, however man, he at the moment is the elite highway course racing expertise within the storage. Nobody would dispute that. Possibly SVG would. His humility shines by at occasions. He does not wish to have the bullseye, however that is what he has. He brings essentially the most velocity.”
Different contenders at Sonoma in Letarte’s thoughts embrace Kyle Larson, who received at Sonoma in 2021 and 2024. The previous Daytona 500-winning crew chief additionally identified that this could possibly be the race that 19-year-old rookie Connor Zilisch turns issues round. He’s received at seven highway programs within the second-tier O’Reilly Auto Components Collection, however hasn’t completed inside the highest 20 previously six weeks. He was taken out in the identical wreck that collected van Gisbergen final weekend.
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“I do not suppose I might trip in a rental automotive with him at this level,” Letarte jokingly stated of Zilisch. “I believe he would get hit by a meteor. His luck has been so terrible.”
Bubba Wallace, driver of the No. 23 Chumba On line casino Toyota, is interviewed on the set of NASCAR on TNT Sports activities by Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Steve Letarte after profitable the profitable the NASCAR Cup Collection Brickyard 400 Offered by PPG at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on July 27, 2025.
There’s just a few modifications coming to TNT’s protection this season. Inexperienced flag racing will function two-box advert breaks, so followers received’t miss a second of the motion. Letarte and Earnhardt may also be part of TNT’s pre- and post-race protection alongside 2010 Daytona 500 winner Jamie McMurray and longtime ESPN motorsports reporter Marty Smith, who joins because the host.
Full protection of observe and qualifying races will likely be obtainable on truTV and HBO Max, and followers can watch in-car cameras throughout the races on HBO Max. NASCAR Corridor of Famers Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Burton may also be part of the studio protection as particular company.
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TNT’s slate of races after Sonoma contains Chicagoland, Echopark Speedway simply south of Atlanta, the historic , after which one in all NASCAR’s crown jewels within the Brickyard 400.
Letarte is very excited for the Quaker State 400, NASCAR’s second journey of the 12 months to Atlanta. Since being repaved and reconfigured, the monitor has produced some entertaining racing.
“It is likely one of the must-find tickets of NASCAR. The racing there’s unbelievable. I believe that is one of many races that’s going to shock all people in the summertime, as a result of it may upset the standings and will upset the in-season match,” Letarte stated. “There’s quite a lot of issues that may change after we go right down to Atlanta. That new configuration – it seems like fighter jets in a punch bowl.”
Since becoming a member of forces with Alexander and Earnhardt within the sales space, Letarte has discovered two key components that create a recipe for achievement: Put together laborious and have enjoyable.
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“I believe whenever you put laborious work in throughout the week and also you do all of that preparation, whenever you go to the sales space, you actually are simply speaking a few race that is on TV,” Letarte stated. “It’s such as you’re sitting round together with your buddies ingesting a beer.”
