Rick Allen 'Crushed' By How NBC Tenure Ended; Regrets Not Speaking Out

On Tuesday, Rick Allen joined the Dale Jr Download to discuss his ousting from NBC at the end of 2024. | Screenshot from Dale Jr Download on YouTube

For nearly a decade, veteran broadcaster Rick Allen was the voice of NASCAR on NBC, serving as the lap-by-lap broadcaster for the network’s coverage of both the NASCAR Cup Series and NASCAR Xfinity Series, beginning in 2015.

But, after the two-week Olympic Break last Summer, Allen’s distinct voice, the one that guided fans through several of the sport’s most recent championship-winning moments, including a record-tying seventh title for Jimmie Johnson, was silenced.

Leigh Diffey, NBC’s long-time play-by-play announcer for the NTT IndyCar Series, was tapped to take over the network’s NASCAR Cup Series coverage, leaving Allen to be silently released from the network without a trace.

“I found out about that the day before the Hall of Fame [January 18], at a lunch, they said at the time they didn’t know how many races, but they were going to have [Leigh] Diffey do the last however many races and I didn’t understand that, I didn’t know why,” said Allen on the Dale Jr. Download. “I went into that lunch meeting not having a clue that I wasn’t going to have my contract renewed.”

“A couple of months earlier, you were in the bus with me when we were told by an [NBC] executive that we were going to have a long-term deal, and we were going to continue, our four guys were going to stay together. Then they didn’t renew your contract, and then I was told mine wasn’t going to be renewed, and so it just was very different from what I had been told earlier, that it changed dramatically, and it was scary and it was weird.”

"When that news hit me I was like, what am I going to do now if I don't get to hang out with my friends, do my friends go away, how does this affect my life, that was a crushing blow on that January day."

Rick Allen, on his departure from NBC.

While Allen was told about the incoming switch-up in January 2024, the general public didn’t find out anything about it until later in the Summer, just a couple of weeks before Allen was set to call his final NASCAR Cup Series event for NBC Sports.

.@Rickallenracing describes his exit from NBC as "a crushing blow."😔 pic.twitter.com/P2M8CiANBI

— Dirty Mo Media (@DirtyMoMedia) April 23, 2025

That confirmation didn’t even come from NBC Sports, though. It came from outside the network, and as the days of Allen calling NASCAR Cup Series events became fewer and fewer, and eventually passed, there was radio silence from the company that had employed him for more than a decade.

There was no proper on-air send-off. No dedication. No thank you message. No social media statement. Nothing. Then suddenly, Rick Allen wasn’t calling NASCAR Cup Series events anymore, and Leigh Diffey was on the microphone for NBC.

“The news didn’t get out, other than you guys knew about it, until later, and they told me that there was nothing that was gonna come out, and then all of a sudden it did,” said Allen. “They told me not to do any release or response, so you said I kind of disappeared, I did. I was told not to say anything initially, and then I just kind of thought, I’m not going to say anything.”

Looking back on the events that transpired to end his stint at NBC, Allen believes that staying silent about the situation was a mistake because it left people thinking that he did something wrong that caused him to get the ax, when that just wasn’t the case.

“It hit me like a ton of bricks when we golfed with a bunch of guys, we were at Michael Jordan’s golf course, and I had never met Jordan at any given time. I’d been around him, but I’d never talked to him,” Allen recalls.”The first thing he said to me was, ‘What did you do, man? How come you aren’t announcing the races? You’re NASCAR, how come you aren’t announcing the races anymore? What did you do?”

“By me not saying anything and the way NBC did it where they didn’t make any announcements, they didn’t say why or whatever, I think it looked like I did something wrong, and that’s why I wasn’t – I would have been more vocal so that people understand it was not my choice, I did not want to not be back with NBC, I want to still call NASCAR races, I wanted to be part of The CW, Amazon, Turner, or anybody. I wanted that badly, and it never happened, and it never came to fruition with any of the broadcast partners.”

It’s not like Allen gave up on the dream of calling NASCAR events. With a new television deal beginning in 2025, the long-time broadcaster was looking for a position with one of the new partners, but after searching, with the help of a newly-hired agent, there was nothing for the 55-year-old to slot into.

After nearly two decades of experience between the ARCA Menards Series, NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, and the NASCAR Cup Series, Allen is looking for another role to slot into shortly. Even if that’s just the zMAX CARS Tour, as long as it involves racing.