It’s been a while since race fans have heard the voice of Rick Allen. After calling NASCAR Cup Series races on NBC Sports from 2015 until 2024, and before that the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series for many years, Allen was left on the sidelines entering the 2025 TV deals for NASCAR. But on Saturday night, fans of the CARS Tour will hear Allen’s voice alongside Blake McCandless on the FloRacing broadcast of the “Mini’s Mission 125” from Dominion Raceway.
Allen’s participation came about initially as a bit of a joke between friends when Allen made an appearance on Dale Earnhardt Jr.’’s “Dale Jr. Download” podcast back in May. While at the time they were joking together, a hole opened up for the June 14 race from Dominion as regular announcer Eric Brennan would not be able to make that event.
“(Dale) had me on and we talked about what I was doing and what I wanted to do, and I think jokingly he said, ‘I’ve got two CARS Tour races I need an announcer for,” explained Allen to FloRacing. “So I raised my hand and said I’m available. He thought I was joking, but I said I’m not joking, I’d do it for him as a favor.
“A week after the podcast he reached out to me and said, ‘Are you serious about potentially doing one of the CARS Tour races or both of them?’ I told him I’d love to look at it and see if my schedule would allow it. I said, ‘Let me do the June 14th race at Dominion and we’ll go from there.’ So for the immediate future we’re doing this one and we’ll see how it goes.”
— Flo Racing —