It’s not just the wrecks and the underdog story that made the 2024 Coke Zero Sugar 400 special. The commentary played a massive role too, especially from the legendary Leigh Diffey. The Australian is a masterful motorsports announcer, calling Formula One and IndyCar races in the past. He was so good at his job that even the Olympics got him on board for its track and field events. The 53-year-old made a lot of fans with his commentary on Saturday, one of which was Denny Hamlin.
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His greatest moment of the evening came at the end of the race as Harrison Burton and Kyle Busch fought for the lead. When Rowdy was in front on the final lap, he turned the clock back to the last time he won at Daytona. When Burton took the lead away with a couple of turns to go, he smoothly transitioned his focus onto the 23-year-old.
“Jeff your little boy has done it,” was a powerful and emotional call as he took the checkered flag. Harrison’s father, Jeff Burton, was one of the announcers with Diffey. All in all, it was the most brilliantly delivered play-by-play commentary this season has seen so far. It was so good that Hamlin revealed that even he was on his feet after suffering a DNF in the race.
HARRISON BURTON IS A NASCAR CUP SERIES WINNER!!! pic.twitter.com/6nxp8b8rBf
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) August 25, 2024
“Can we sign him up for 36 of 36 races?” the Joe Gibbs Racing star said on his podcast. “He is just fantastic. He knows how to match the moment. He brings…I don’t know what it is, it’s just the great ones know how to match the moment with their voice. They change the tone, they change the speed at which they’re calling a race.”
Hamlin hails NBC production, calls FOX messy
It’s not just Diffey, Hamlin was impressed by but NBC’s whole production itself. The veteran race car driver praised the 3D car model they had been trying out. He also praised the maturity of the other announcers to let the Aussie announcer call the closing moments of the race without any interference. At FOX, according to the #11 driver, things can get a bit messy on that final lap sometimes.
“They let him have the moment. Steve and Jeff, they didn’t get in it. They knew that this guy is the play-by-play, let him call it. And then we will react to what we just saw after the checkered flag. That’s a little bit of the chaos I feel like we have at FOX…everyone’s trying to call the last lap and it’s a little messy sometimes,” he added.
The Daytona race was not Diffey’s first time announcing a NASCAR race and based on his performance, it won’t be the last either. He has already become a favorite among the NASCAR community.
