After a lengthy time off from the broadcast booth, leaving NBC Sports following the 2023 season, Dale Earnhardt Jr. is back on TV for the Amazon Prime and TNT telecasts. It was a big surprise when Junior left NBC, but we now know that the break he took was due to professional as well as personal reasons.
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Dale Jr. will split 10 races on both Prime and TNT, which would be his broadcast schedule for the season. The first of the five races on Jeff Bezos’ network starts next Sunday with the Coca-Cola 600. Then, in July and into August, Junior will do the commentary for five races on TNT.
Dale Jr. did not broadcast for NBC Sports in 2024, after he did not renew his contract. So Junior has been away from the NASCAR broadcast booth for almost one and a half years. He feels kind of weird about the change and is trying to make the adjustment as easy as he can.
While his basic job for those two networks will be similar to what he did with NBC Sports, Junior admitted that he will potentially have to take a slightly different approach.
“That’s where we are and I’m thrilled to just have the chance and just thankful to be able to do it a little bit,” Dale Jr. said on Kevin Harvick’s Happy Hour podcast.
But Junior is approaching his duties as an analyst for the longest race of the year in the same manner he used to approach that race when he was a NASCAR Cup driver.
Junior’s time away from the broadcast booth was for two main reasons. Firstly, he wanted to spend more time with his wife and their young family. And, JR Motorsports has been doing a lot more, with rumors that it will enter Cup racing for the first time either in 2026 or 2027. However, Junior has denied these so far.
Regarding the action itself, Junior is all pumped up. “I’m pretty animated and moving a lot. I wonder sometimes if it’s annoying to [Steve] Letarte ’cause I sit up, stand up, [and] sit down. I’m moving all the time,” he said.
To which Kevin Harvick replied, “Oh, you should come to our booth [FOX Sports]. You want to talk about sit up, stand, [and] turn. Oh my God, Clint’s [Bowyer] all over the place.”
Junior replied, “Honestly, I sit at home and watch races. I enjoy them. If I’m at a racetrack in person, I enjoy that experience. But I don’t know what it is about being in the booth, it’s like the most fun I can have watching a race. And you just don’t have a choice but to really be in it.”
Dale Jr. explained how watching a race from the booth offers a unique perspective. Not only does one see the battles unfold, but you also have to keep track of everything else on the track at the same time. This creates “an intense adrenaline rush”.
He also elaborated on how it is significantly different from having to face the media after a bad race as a driver. In the booth, they can pat each other on the shoulders and say, “That was such a great show.”
Apparently, calling races while focusing on the entertainment value doesn’t put you under nearly as much pressure as performing on the track. At least that’s what Junior conveys.
