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Rick Allen, who was a NASCAR broadcast announcer for NBC up until 2024, revealed a conversation he had with NBA star and Cup Series team owner, Michael Jordan, after his exit from his television role.
Allen was the play-by-play announcer for multiple races in the Cup Series from 2015 to 2024 and was part of the Fox organization in multiple roles before that, until he was replaced by Leigh Diffey in the booth for the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series playoffs. Allen then was an announcer for the rest of the 2024 Xfinity Series season and has not returned to the booth this year due to the broadcast now being managed by the CW and their team.
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Speaking on Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s podcast, The Dale Jr. Download, Rick Allen spoke about an encounter he had with Jordan at his golf course, where the former basketball player asked him about the circumstances surrounding his exit.
"I had never met Jordan. I had been around him a couple times but never talked to him. The first thing that Jordan says to me when I went up to him at his golf course: 'What'd you do man?' And I was looking at him and I was kind of thinking that I don't know what he was talking about here. And he goes, 'How come you aren't announcing the races? You're NASCAR. Why aren't you announcing races anymore? What'd you do?'" [1:20:03]
Explaining his reaction to that meeting with the 23XI Racing owner, Allen was devastated as he continued:
“But he thought I had done something wrong and that's why they put Diffy in, and so immediately I was crushed ‘cause I thought, here's the most famous athlete on the planet, I think one of the greatest athletes ever, and knows me but is like "What'd you do?"” [1:20:43]
Rick Allen's exit from NBC was because his contract was not renewed, which he was informed about before the NASCAR Hall of Fame ceremony in January of 2024.
Rick Allen was worried about losing his friends during NBC exit
After he was told that he wouldn't be coming back to NBC the day before the HOF ceremony, Rick Allen was concerned that he would no longer have the relationships in his life anymore that he had built over his career. Speaking with Dale Jr., Allen explained that since he wouldn't be seeing his friends every week anymore, he was worried they wouldn't be around anymore.
“I think at the time when that news hit me, it was kind of like, 'What am I going to do now if I don't get to hang out with my friends?' You know that 'Did my friends go away?' Allen wondered. 'How does this affect my life?' and so it was that was a crushing blow again that January day.” [1:17:25]
Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Rick Allen worked together in the NBC booth from 2018 to 2023.
