Dale Earnhardt Jr. among the star names picked for new broadcasters team

Dale Earnhardt Jr. is set to become an analyst in the TNT Sports broadcasting booth. The network is scheduled to cover the sport's inaugural in-season challenge, a 32-driver tournament with $1 million on the line.

The TNT Sports gig follows Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s broadcasting duties with NBC after retiring from full-time NASCAR competition in 2017. He will be joined in the booth by Daytona 500-winning crew chief Steve Letarte and veteran motorsports commentator Adam Alexander.

The network took to X (formerly Twitter) to share its lineup for its five-race schedule, starting with the Quaker State 400 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

"TNT Sports Announces Full Broadcast Team for Inaugural NASCAR In-Season Challenge 🏁," TNT Sports wrote.

As the post shows, Dale Earnhardt Jr. will work with pit road reporters, including Daniella Trotta, Marty Snider, and Alan Cavanna. He will also champion the sport with the studio crew, including Parker Kligerman, Shannon Spake, and Jamie McMurray.

In addition, Jeff Burton and Larry McReynolds will provide their insights in the altcast, while Mamba Smith, Kevin Harvick's co-host on the Happy Hour podcast, will contribute to TNT Sports' B/R Racing as a correspondent.

After the in-season challenge opener at Atlanta on June 28, the following races will be held at Chicago, Sonoma, Dover, and Indianapolis. The tournament winner will take home $1 million, which will be NASCAR's second seven-digit reward of the year after the All-Star Race prize.

USA Network/NBC will take over at Iowa Speedway before concluding the TV coverage in the season finale at Phoenix Raceway. The influx of network companies in NASCAR is part of the league's seven-year media rights deal until 2031.

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"I was so mad and frustrated": Dale Earnhardt Jr. on early struggles as broadcaster in NBC booth

NASCAR: Cup Practice - Source: Imagn

A few weeks ago, Dale Earnhardt Jr. invited his former NBC co-worker, Rick Allen, to the Dale Jr. Download podcast and recalled his first year as a broadcaster at the said network in 2018. He admitted feeling mad and frustrated after the crew stopped giving him special treatment for being a newcomer.

The change in dynamics prevented him from speaking throughout the broadcast during a race weekend at Pocono Raceway. In the NBC booth's defense, Dale Jr. was warned about it, saying he should figure it out eventually.

Speaking to Rick Allen, who left NBC after the 2024 NASCAR season, the former Hendrick Motorsports driver said:

"It was so much fun. The first couple of weeks, y'all handled me with kid gloves. You were like, 'Yep, you get away with this, you get away with that. But you've got to figure it out.'"

"I was standing there, and I was like, I ain't said four words. I hadn't said 10 words, maybe in the whole stage. I was so mad and frustrated," he added.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. also recalled his co-analyst, Jeff Burton, who gave him a reality check, saying:

"Burton, standing there next to me, he elbows me and goes, 'We ain't going to step out of the way. You got to get in here.' He's like, 'You got to force your way in here. We're not going to stop and wait on you.'"

The two-time Daytona 500 winner left the network in 2023 after his contract expired. He later signed broadcasting gigs with Amazon Prime and TNT Sports for the 2025 season.