by After months of widespread speculation, NBC Sports has communicated to its staff that longtime IndyCar lead commentator Leigh Diffey has called his final IndyCar race of the season in anticipation of a move to his NASCAR Cup Series booth, according to multiple sources.
Diffey will make his first appearance this season as the lead commentator alongside NBC Cup Series analysts Jeff Burton and Steve Letarte for coverage of the penultimate weekend of the Cup Series regular season at Daytona International Speedway on Aug. 24. The legendary sportscaster is also listed as part of NBC’s booth for the Sept. 15 race at Watkins Glen, seemingly eliminating any chance he’ll have one final IndyCar race to say a public “goodbye” — though he and NBC could still craft a final message for fans and the paddock during the five-race final stretch. Diffey replaces longtime NBC Cup Series commentator Rick Allen, who is expected to focus on NBC’s Xfinity Series coverage for the remainder of the 2024 season.
NBC’s communications team declined to confirm the decision.
Diffey joined NBC in 2013 to work on its Formula 1 and IndyCar broadcasts and has become a key member of its motorsports properties. The Australian has previously appeared on Cup and Xfinity broadcasts and also hosted NBC’s NASCAR America. Since NBC acquired exclusive IndyCar broadcast rights for the 2019 season, he has appeared on nearly every race broadcast while also serving as the lead announcer for all six NBC Indianapolis 500 broadcasts (2019-24). In recent years, he has also been the lead voice of NBC’s IMSA and Supercross broadcasts.
Outside of motorsports, his voice has become linked to NBC’s national and international coverage of track and field, having worked the last Summer Olympics as the network’s lead track and field announcer, as well as other national and international events. During his decade-plus career with NBC, Diffey has also covered other Summer and Winter Olympic events.
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Kevin Lee, a longtime IndyCar reporter who has filled in for Diffey during his absences in the booth, is expected to serve as NBC’s IndyCar commentator through the end of the year. Lee has done so three times this year, all tied to Diffey’s role in covering the Olympics and the U.S. Olympic Trials. Diffey missed the Laguna Seca round that directly conflicted with the U.S. Olympic Trials on track and field and was also absent from Mid-Ohio when NBC gave him the weekend off amid a rigorous stretch that began with five consecutive IndyCar weekends and will continue through his summer track and field duties and into his fall NASCAR schedule.
Diffey then returned to the IndyCar booth for the series’ doubleheader at Iowa Speedway on July 13-14 for what could be his final appearance as a sportscaster — unless he leaves NBC or the network reacquires the rights to the series in the future. He was absent for IndyCar’s final round before the Olympic break on the streets of Toronto as he prepared to head to Paris to cover the Games.
This article was originally published on Indianapolis Star: Leigh Diffey joins NBC’s NASCAR booth after Paris Olympics
