It’s hard to compare Jimmie Johnson’s seventh Cup Series championship with anything apart from Dale Earnhardt or Richard Petty’s respective seventh titles. However, NASCAR insider Steve Letarte believes that Leigh Diffey’s commentary at the Coke Zero Sugar 400 is right up there. The Australian came into the Cup Series as a play-by-play announcer for NBC this season and has garnered a lot of praise.
Advertisement
Diffey is perhaps one of the greatest motorsports announcers in the world today. He has called races in several competitions like Formula One, IMSA, and IndyCar to name a few.
The 53-year-old has even called track and field events at the Olympics. As per Letarte, one of his greatest performances came during the fall race at Daytona as he said, “Jeff, your little boy has done it,” when Harrison Burton took the checkered flag.
“Watching Harrison come off turn 4 and seeing Jeff’s excitement when he went to victory lane and to hear Leigh’s call is a moment I’ll always remember. It’s up there with Jimmie’s seventh championship or some of the other great races I have been a part of,” Letarte explained in a recent media interaction.
The Coke Zero Sugar 400 was made memorable by the Aussie’s skills in the booth. From giving fans context about Kyle Busch’s winless run as he was in the lead to screaming, “But here comes Harrison Burton,” when the 24-year-old made the pass for the lead in the closing stages of the event, it was simply iconic.
How Formula One made Letarte a fan of Diffey
Letarte has been a fan of Diffey for several years now. The two have worked together in IndyCar and IMSA races in the past. The veteran NBC commentator admitted to being a fan of the Aussie’s work even during the Olympics.
However, perhaps some of his favorite moments with the 53-year-old came when they used to call Formula One races from Stamford, far away from the race tracks.
“We’ve seen his work, whether it’s the 100 meters in the Olympics or whether it’s the biggest calls in other motorsport, we’ve seen it. I have known since listening to Leigh call Formula 1 from Stamford, Connecticut, it sounded like he was standing on the front stretch of any F1 track we were listening to that he was going to bring the enthusiasm,” Letarte added.
Diffey is surely here to stay as a commentator in NASCAR for years to come. NBC’s loss of Dale Earnhardt Jr. as a commentator has been completely neutralized by the Aussie. Many even believe that the legendary announcer is better at the job than Junior ever was.
