ESPN Finally Gets It

From The Daly Planet:

As Dr. Jerry Punch faded in the booth time and time again, it became clear that ESPN needed to return the good doctor to pit road and bring in someone with a better play-by-play style of presentation. ESPN looked around and Vice President of Motorsports Rich Feinberg made a decision. It would be IndyCar and NHRA veteran Marty Reid taking over that role beginning in 2010.

Now in his second season, it's become clear that Reid's lack of a NASCAR history has handicapped him in the TV booth. After five months of working the Nationwide Series telecasts this year, Feinberg finally made a move. Just a week before ESPN starts its fifth season of Sprint Cup Series races, a new face would head the team.

After restarting his TV career in 2007 as a Nationwide Series pit road reporter, Bestwick finally gets the chance to return to the spotlight. While Reid will continue on the Nationwide telecasts, Bestick will call the Sprint Cup Series races for ESPN and ABC.

It seems ironic that rather than utilize Bestwick in this role from the beginning, it has taken ESPN five years to put the pieces of the puzzle in the right places. Now alongside of Dale Jarrett and Andy Petree, ESPN is poised for the first time to come at the final seventeen Sprint Cup Series races with Bestwick leading the charge.

In all the media releases, interviews and social media conversations over the past five seasons there has never been a moment where Bestwick has complained about his role, about any of his fellow announcers or even offered a negative comment.

During a media teleconference on Tuesday, Bestwick was asked how he felt about getting the opportunity to return to a TV role he enjoyed in a sport he cherished. He simply said it was an honor to get a tap on the shoulder from the coach asking him to get in the game and play.


Never was a broken leg more costly to a career. Allen Bestwick is arguably the best NASCAR announcer in the business. He worked his way thru the ranks and knows NASCAR inside out. He "gets it". He's charismatic, informed and above all, a professional. 


I miss the old days of watching him on Speedvision along with Johnny Benson, Kenny Schrader, Michael Waltrip and the occasional garbage truck emptying the dumpster in the alley behind the studio on Inside Winston Cup Racing. That show was wheels off in more ways than one but AB never failed to keep the circus train on the track and always signed off "see you next week, network executives willing".


His is a story of a genuinely good, hard working guy that had the rug yanked out from under him (not once, but twice!). But instead of giving up, he hung in there, did the grunt work without complaint and is once again at the top of the pack. There are few people that can call a race like Allen Bestwick and it's good to have him back where he belongs.