Michael Jordan is a well-known name across the NASCAR grid today, but his love for the sport precedes his NBA fame. The 6x NBA Champion has several laurels to his name, but outside of basketball, it was stock car racing that caught his eye. Born and raised in Wilmington, North Carolina, it was impossible for Jordan to escape the thrill of NASCAR. In an era where drivers like Richard Petty were global superstars, Jordan sat and admired in the grandstands along with his father James Jordan, who worked with NASCAR teams in the 1960s and 70s. However, it was not until after retiring from the NBA that Jordan took a major interest in NASCAR.

After a Hall of Fame career in the NBA, Jordan took on the role of ownership at the Charlotte Bobcats (now the Hornets), and that’s where he met a young and fierce Denny Hamlin. Their bond grew from there, as Jordan reignited his love for the days when he admired stock car racing more than anything. In 2025, Jordan co-owns 23XI Racing along with Denny Hamlin and has seen significant year-on-year success, as their #45 Tyler Reddick made the championship 4 last season. However, there is one part of the sport that Jordan dearly misses, and that is none other than legendary announcer Rick Allen. 

A golf course conversation with Michael Jordan that changed everything

Rick Allen was the voice of NASCAR in the 2010s. The Nebraska native was a track and field star at the University of Nebraska, winning two decathlon titles. After he graduated with a communications degree, he found himself a role as a public announcer at the University’s track and field events, and later moved to call races at Eagle Raceway, a local dirt track. This is where he was discovered by FOX, and it changed his life completely. 

Fast forward to 2015, and Allen was chosen as the lead race announcer for NBC in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, a role he would excel at and thrill fans with some of the most iconic calls. Who can forget his call when Matt Kenseth revenge-wrecked Joey Logano during the 2015 playoffs while Logano was leading the championship race? “And Kenseth cleared by Logano, maybe? NO! Kenseth takes him out, and the crowd roars!” This call reverberated across the NASCAR world as it marked a championship-defining moment of revenge, and Allen captured the emotions perfectly. However, to many people’s surprise, Allen was relieved of his duties in 2024 and was replaced by Leigh Diffey, a move that received no clarity as to why it was made.

In 2025, Rick Allen appeared on the Dale Jr. Download and cleared the air on his disappearance and what he laments the most after it all happened. Allen said, “You [Dale Earnhardt Jr.] said I kind of disappeared. I did. I was told not to say anything initially, and then I kind of thought, you know what, I’m just not gonna say anything.” A shocking revelation that he was forced to stay quiet about his removal, and a choice he regrets making after a conversation with none other than Michael Jordan!

Dale Earnhardt Jr. asked him, “Would you have done it different?” Allen replied, “I think so now, looking back on it. Because I think it looked bad. Public perception was that I had done something wrong. It hit me like a ton of bricks. We were at Michael Jordan’s golf course. The first thing that Jordan says to me, ‘What’d you do, man? How come you aren’t announcing the races? You’re NASCAR.” Jordan rebuilt his love for the sport in the 2010s after developing the aforementioned friendship with Denny Hamlin, and it coincided with the time Allen was calling some of the best races in the sport. So when Allen realized a behemoth like Jordan felt upset at his disappearance, it stuck with him. 

Allen continued, “And I sat there, and I was like, oh my! Not only does Jordan know who I am, but he thought I had done something wrong, and that’s why they put [Leigh] Diffey in. Me not saying anything, and the way that NBC did it. It looked like I had done something wrong. I would’ve been more vocal, just so that people understood that it wasn’t my choice.” Allen felt the weight of disappointing fans and making them think he was in the wrong. What made the moment more shocking was the timing of Allen’s removal from broadcasting duties. 

It happened during the middle of the season in 2024, as Leigh Diffey was announced to take over from Allen for the Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona. Allen would continue to call NASCAR races, but in the Xfinity Series for the final eight races on The CW. Allen further revealed that he was in the know of the change in January 2024. “The news didn’t come out until later, and they told me there was nothing going to come out, then all of a sudden it didn’t, and they told me not to do any release or response,” Allen told Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Ultimately, Allen has not called a National Series race since the Xfinity Series finale at Phoenix Raceway, where Justin Allgaier took the victory to claim his first championship. The NASCAR community sorely misses a voice that brightened every Sunday with an added flair and excitement in his voice. Modern-day NASCAR coverage on FOX has come under a lot of scrutiny for its unenthusiastic calls and silly errors, such as getting Josh Berry’s highest finish wrong moments before he won his first-ever Cup Series race.

Allen is sorely missed in the booth by all of us, and no less by Michael Jordan himself. Do you want to see Rick Allen return to the broadcast booth? Let us know in the comments!