NASCAR insiders debate which broadcasters they prefer to call a race

Whether it’s Mike Joy, Leigh Diffey or Adam Alexander, when you tune into a NASCAR race, you can expect to hear the voice of an experienced play-by-play man well-versed on the sport.

But what about the idea of having a seasoned broadcaster on the call from outside the racing world? Jordan Bianchi and Jeff Gluck of The Athletic addressed the topic of which non-racing specific broadcaster they would like to see call a race in the future during the latest edition of “The Teardown” podcast. Bianchi floated the idea of FOX Sports‘ Gus Johnson or CBS Sports‘ Kevin Harlan being on the call for a superspeedway race, albeit in a more unique role.

“I think having Gus Johnson or Kevin Harlan come in for the last 10 laps of a superspeedway race and just elevating the excitement that’s going on,” Bianchi said. “Think about Leigh Diffey at Daytona in August and how amazing that was. The energy of Gus Johnson when like somebody makes an amazing pass or there’s a big moment would be off the charts. That would just be really cool. I’m not asking them to call the whole race, just like 10 laps to go we’re bringing in Gus. Give me an alternative broadcast of that, like I don’t need all 500 miles of it, I just wanna see the last 10 miles or so. Kevin Harlan’s the same way. Kevin Harlan is amazing.”

NASCAR insiders disagree on outside broadcasters calling motorsports

Johnson and Harlan have a combined experience calling NFL, NBA and NCAA football/basketball games. But venturing into motorsports would be completely outside their bubble and as Bianchi mentioned, perhaps a 10-lap sprint of excitement would be best suited if it were ever a realistic possibility.

Gluck, however, will pass on the famous announcer calling NASCAR action in a one-off.

“I’m gonna say no one because I think that when you’ve seen other broadcasters in the past, even Mike Tirico for the Indy 500 or something like that, there’s always just certain things they say — the racing lingo is so specific, and you have to know racing to such a degree, you can’t just be a general broadcaster to do racing,” Gluck said. “Anything that’s even slightly off is going to prick the ears of NASCAR fans or racing fans like, ‘Eh, that’s not quite right. He didn’t say that right. That’s not exactly the terminology.’

“And it’s gonna mess with you. So, I would actually say no one and I think racing announcers should be covering racing.”