Leigh Diffey: What to know about new NBC NASCAR announcer

NBC’s NASCAR Cup Series broadcasts have a new lead announcer in Leigh Diffey.

Born in Brisbane, Australia, Diffey has become one of the premier auto racing announcers in the United States through his calls of F1 and IndyCar Series races on NBC networks over the last decade.

And for the first time, Diffey gets the seat as the lead commentator for NBC’s NASCAR Cup Series broadcasts for the remainder of the 2024 season and possibly beyond, starting with Saturday’s Coke Zero 400 at Daytona.

I have had the fortune of calling the Rolex 24 at @DAYTONA , Supercross at Daytona, the Daytona 200 and American Flat Track at the famed racing venue. Tomorrow I head to Florida to fulfill a Motorsport commentators dream of calling @NASCAR at Daytona … so excited and grateful.

— Leigh Diffey (@leighdiffey) August 22, 2024

Here’s what to know about the new NASCAR on NBC announcer:

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Starting out as a jack-of-all-trades with Speed Channel

After covering motorsports for the BBC and an Australian TV network, Diffey made the move to the United States, working for the Speed Channel in the 2000s covering several different types of motorsports while serving as host for Speed’s studio shows.

According to his NBC Sports biography, Diffey mainly covered Rolex Sports Car Series and MotoGP races while at Speed. He also helped out in Speed’s F1 coverage from time to time.

Move to NBC for Formula One and IndyCar

Diffey joined NBC in 2013 to lead the network’s coverage of F1 and IndyCar. NBC added F1 on a four-year deal starting in 2013 for the U.S., but coverage moved to ESPN and ABC following the end of the deal.

Diffey nevertheless excelled as the network’s IndyCar announcer as NBC added the Indianapolis 500 broadcast in 2019. He has called the last six Indy 500 races, including an iconic call of Josef Newgarden’s last-lap pass to win in 2024.

Becoming a staple of NBC’s Olympics track-and-field coverage

Diffey has called the track and field competitions in the Summer Olympics in 2021 (Tokyo) and this summer (Paris) for NBC, his most high-profile announcing duty since being at the network.

Diffey’s Olympic performance was under scrutiny earlier this month when he incorrectly identified the winner of the men’s 100-meter sprint at the finish line. Diffey ID’d Jamaica’s Kishane Thompson as the winner, but American sprinter Noah Lyles was declared the winner by 0.005 seconds.

Still, Diffey’s overall performance in Paris was generally lauded, highlighted by his call of the finish of American Cole Hooker’s 1,500-meter victory.

Diffey also calls most of the higher-profile track-and-field events shown on NBC, including the world championships and the U.S. Olympic trials.

New NASCAR on NBC play-by-play announcer

Diffey, 53, now takes the seat as NBC’s lead commentator for NASCAR Cup Series coverage, starting with Saturday’s race at Daytona. Rick Allen had been the lead commentator for NBC since the network re-added NASCAR coverage in 2015.

This won’t be Diffey’s first NASCAR race; he has filled in for Cup and Xfinity Series race coverage periodically, including two Cup races in 2017. His call of the 2017 Michigan Cup race, won by Kyle Larson, has been a favorite of diehard NASCAR fans.