Reports: IndyCar’s Leigh Diffey all set for a move to NASCAR

IndyCar's lead play-by-play announcer, Leigh Diffey, is reportedly confirmed to be shifting to the NBC Sports Cup Series booth. After months of speculation about his transition to NASCAR's premier level, Diffey is ready for his Cup stint and has called out his last IndyCar race held in Iowa on July 14.

The Australian-American commentator has been in motorsports for decades. After covering the Superbike World Championship and World Rally Championship for BBC in the United Kingdom, Diffey shifted to the US in 2001 to cover the CART Series. In 2003, he was hired by Speed Channel to call several races including the American Le Mans Series, the 24 Hours of Daytona, and the 24 Hours of Le Mans, to name a few.

A decade later in 2013, the 53-year-old joined the NBC network as an F1 and IndyCar announcer. With time, he became one of the instrumental members of the team. As a result, in 2019, when NBC locked the exclusive broadcasting rights of the IndyCar Series, Diffey was appointed the lead announcer for six consecutive Indy 500 races until the 2024 battle.

Diffey is now set to join Jeff Burton and Steve Letarte at the Coke Zero Sugar 400 Cup Series booth, slated to be hosted by the Daytona International Speedway. Another race scheduled on his broadcasting calendar is the second Playoff race at Watkins Glen International.

IndyCar Court reporter Nathan Brown shared about the commentator's confirmed move to the Cup Series booth on his X (formerly Twitter) account:

Leigh Diffey will be expected to replace Rick Allen in the booth and the latter will observe his role as the Xfinity Series announcer.

The NASCAR fanbase reacts to Leigh Diffey's transition to the NBC's Cup Series booth

Though Diffey has a big chunk of his experience as the IndyCar Series races commentator, he is no stranger to the NASCAR scene. The Australian-American covered the practice and qualifying sessions during his stint with Speed. However, he got his first break as an NXS race announcer during his tenure with NBC in 2015, at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.

The same year saw Diffey's debut in the Cup Series with Dale Jarrett at the Homestead-Miami Speedway. The former has previously replaced Rick Allen at Watkins Glen International and the Michigan International Speedway when the latter was in London for the 2017 IAAF World Championships coverage.

Amid Leigh Diffey's confirmed move as Cup Series announcer, the fanbase gave their take on the news.

A fan wasn't pleased with Diffey's switch and yearned to see the latter in the IndyCar Series.

"Terrible news. We want @leighdiffey in Indy car," the fan wrote.

"Congratulations, Leigh 🎉🎊 NASCAR gain is Indycar loss... I'll miss you!!" another fan commented.

"You will be missed," a fan wrote.

One fan was unhappy upon learning about Leigh Diffey's upgrade over another renowned IndyCar announcer, Allen Bestwick, and wrote.

"No offense to Diffey but is he an upgrade over Allen? No way! If they wanted to put the best play by play announcer it’s @AllenBestwick," they mentioned.

"For the love of God please call Alan Bestwick," another fan commented.

Amid Leigh Diffey's absence from IndyCar for the remainder of the season, Kevin Lee, who has previously filled in during the former's absence is expected to do so this time as well.