FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Friday, December 4th, 2015

NASCAR ON NBC BROADCASTERS SHARE PERSONAL HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE 2015 SEASON

“My favorite moment was sharing the Darlington booth with Ned Jarrett, Dale Jarrett, and Ken Squire.” – Jeff Burton

“The moments off-camera in commercials and during rain delays were priceless.” – Krista Voda

“I got mad, I laughed and I cried…and that was just the pre-race show.” – Kyle Petty

STAMFORD, Conn. – Dec. 4, 2015 – NBC Sports Group’s 2015 NASCAR season wraps up this evening on NBCSN with the 2015  Sprint Cup Series Awards at 9 p.m. ET from Las Vegas. After 21 consecutive weeks of race coverage and nearly two years of working together, members of the NACAR on NBC on-air team reflect back on their favorite memories, funny stories and lessons learned along the way.

 

Jeff Burton

“My favorite moment was the Darlington Sprint Cup ‘Throwback’ race when we shared the booth with Ned Jarrett, Dale Jarrett, and Ken Squier. I love the history of our sport and having those guys with us during the Southern 500 — a race with amazing tradition — was an honor for us and the fans.”

 

Steve Letarte

“The broadcast that stands out the most would have to be The Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. I loved having the opportunity to be back there and part of a race broadcast from such a historic track. The race was also far enough into our season that I felt relaxed in the booth and could really enjoy the event.”

 

Rick Allen

“My favorite memory actually took 21 weeks. Watching our new team grow and learn together over the first season back for NBC was incredible. The Championship celebration in Miami really put an exclamation point on how much we improved throughout the year. The funniest point of the season was when the coffee maker showed up in the booth after midnight during our first broadcast from Daytona and Steve Letarte found his second wind.”

 

Krista Voda

“The moments off-camera in commercials and during rain delays were priceless. And let’s face it, in 2015 we had plenty of those! Kyle Petty kept Dale Jarrett, myself and our crew laughing hysterically throughout the season. During our extended rain-fill show in Charlotte, the booth we were broadcasting from was an icebox and we were all freezing. Kyle kept cracking us up with comments and eventually made a one-liner comparison that was so strange, but so descriptive. I can’t do it justice, but we were all on the floor in tears!”

 

Kyle Petty

“From Daytona in July to Homestead in November it was a great first year! I got mad, I laughed and I cried…and that was just the pre-race show. Best group of people in the world to work with!”

 

Dale Jarrett

“I would have to say my favorite season memory was being on our set at Martinsville, outside of turn 2, watching, listening and enjoying the moment as Jeff Gordon won his 93rd and final race of his storied career. I was so glad to be there!”

 

Mike Massaro

“Being on air until 2:30 a.m. ET in the morning during our first race at Daytona will always stay with me as an incredible memory. Also, I covered Kyle Busch in Homestead during the Championship race and will never forget the emotional eruption from his crowd of family and team members when he took the lead. They could sense the Championship. Amazing energy!”

 

Marty Snider

“By far, my favorite memory is Jeff Gordon’s win in Martinsville. I had his pit stall that day and did the victory lane interview. I knew I was in the middle of a moment that was something special. Just to share in one of the greatest moments in Gordon’s career was amazing, and then to cover him the entire week leading up to his final race was incredible.”

 

Dave Burns

“I loved the irony of having Blake Shelton’s ‘Bringing Back The Sunshine’ as our theme song amid so much rain! Denny Hamlin and I did our part to help. The sun came out two weeks in a row during my live interviews with Denny.”

 

Kelli Stavast

“My favorite memory was getting deliriously silly with my fellow pit reporters during the rain delay at Phoenix.  We were pretty much acting like 5-year olds, but we all laughed so hard that I was literally in tears. It ended with me putting my rain-soaked socks in the microwave in an attempt to dry them out.”

 

Rutledge Wood

“I’m just thankful for another wild year of racing. The NASCAR on NBC team is a great group of friends and has truly become a family.”

 

Nate Ryan

“As a relative TV neophyte, my first full season at NBC Sports often felt like being the new kid on the first day of school. And that first day recurred every weekend.

Knowing NASCAR wasn’t the problem, there were so many changing fundamentals to grasp, the ever-changing location of the TV compound and the logistics of reaching it, the rhythm of TV production meetings and the channels of communication best served to disseminate information across a large staff.

There still is much to learn – the size of my Windsor knot (which might remain forever a work in progress), my left leg jutting out from behind the studio desk, exposed and quaking with nervous energy on camera (I’ll remember to stay on that mark next time) and the correct pronunciation of JR Motorsports (let me run that by the team owner again) — but I’ll enter the second year with the confidence of knowing that I survived the first!”

–NBC SPORTS GROUP–