Allen Bestwick (born September 24, 1961) is an American
sportscaster. He is the lead play-by-play voice for
University of Connecticut women’s basketball telecasts for
SNY, the lead track announcer at the
Indianapolis Motor Speedway
The Indianapolis Motor Speedway is an automobile racing circuit located in Speedway, Indiana, an enclave suburb of Indianapolis, Indiana. It is the home of the Indianapolis 500 and the Verizon 200, and and formerly the home of the United State ...
, and the lead broadcaster for the
Superstar Racing Experience
Superstar Racing Experience (SRX), officially known as the Camping World SRX Series, is an American stock car racing series founded by Tony Stewart, Ray Evernham, Sandy Montag and George Pyne. The formation of the series was announced on July 13, ...
racing series.
Biography
Early life and career
Bestwick was born in
Newport, Rhode Island
Newport is an American seaside city on Aquidneck Island in Newport County, Rhode Island. It is located in Narragansett Bay, approximately southeast of Providence, Rhode Island, Providence, south of Fall River, Massachusetts, south of Boston, ...
. His broadcasting career began at the age of 15, when he did on-air work for his
high school radio
High school radio are radio stations located at high schools and usually operated by its students with faculty supervision. The oldest extant high school AM radio station is AM 1450 KBPS in Portland, Oregon. Portland radio station KBPS, first li ...
station in
Coventry, Rhode Island
Coventry is a town in Kent County, Rhode Island, United States. The population was 35,688 at the 2020 census and is part of the .
Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of . of it is land and of it ...
. Bestwick began announcing auto racing at age 16, when he called the action at
Seekonk Speedway
Seekonk Speedway is a family entertainment venue that features racing of all kinds on a semi-banked 1/3 mile asphalt-paved oval, located on U.S. Route 6 in Seekonk, Massachusetts.
The track holds the distinction of being the longest continually ...
, where his father raced.
He then was hired by Charlie Roberts, founder of MotorNet in New Jersey, to be the radio network's Director of Affiliates and Associate Producer.
In 1985, Bestwick joined
Motor Racing Network
Motor Racing Network (MRN) is a U.S. radio network that syndicates broadcasts of auto racing events, particularly NASCAR. MRN was founded in 1970 by NASCAR founder Bill France, Sr. and broadcaster Ken Squier, and is a wholly owned subsidiary of N ...
(MRN) as a race reporter and eventually became co-lead announcer with
Joe Moore and
Barney Hall
Barnet Hall (June 24, 1932January 26, 2016) was an American sports commentator for Motor Racing Network, formerly calling NASCAR races. Hall broadcast races for over 50 years. Hall is considered one of the best NASCAR commentators of all-time. MR ...
. While still employed at MRN, Bestwick took over for
Ken Squier
Kenley Dean Squier (born April 10, 1935) is an American sportscaster and motorsports editor from Waterbury, Vermont. From 1979 to 1997, he served as the lap-by-lap commentator for ''NASCAR on CBS'', and was also a lap-by-lap commentator for T ...
as
TBS' lead NASCAR commentator for its abbreviated schedule.
NBC Sports and Turner Sports
Bestwick joined
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...
in 1999 as its lap-by-lap commentator for its lone race, the
Pennzoil 400 at
Homestead-Miami Speedway. When NBC acquired rights to the second half of the NASCAR season, Bestwick was joined by
Benny Parsons
Benjamin Stewart Parsons (July 12, 1941 – January 16, 2007) was an American NASCAR driver, and later an announcer/analyst/pit reporter on SETN, TBS, ABC, ESPN, NBC, and TNT. He became famous as the 1973 NASCAR Winston Cup Series champion, ...
and
Wally Dallenbach Jr. as the network's full-time broadcast team. Bestwick also continued to work for Turner Sports, as
TNT
Trinitrotoluene (), more commonly known as TNT, more specifically 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene, and by its preferred IUPAC name 2-methyl-1,3,5-trinitrobenzene, is a chemical compound with the formula C6H2(NO2)3CH3. TNT is occasionally used as a reagen ...
served as NBC's broadcast partner on cable.
In 2005, Bestwick and
Bill Weber
William Weber (born May 8, 1957) is a former television sports commentator best known for his work on TNT and NBC NASCAR broadcasts. Weber was also the lead announcer for Champ Car World Series events and other auto racing series on NBC. He is ...
switched positions on the broadcast. Bestwick took Weber's position as lead pit reporter while Weber, who had substituted for Bestwick for two races in 2004 as he recuperated from a broken leg, moved to the booth. Bestwick substituted for Weber from 2005-2006 at Standalone Busch Series races.
Also in 2005, Bestwick made a
cameo appearance
A cameo role, also called a cameo appearance and often shortened to just cameo (), is a brief appearance of a well-known person in a work of the performing arts. These roles are generally small, many of them non-speaking ones, and are commonly eit ...
as himself, being the lead announcer, in the movie ''
Herbie: Fully Loaded''. During his tenure at NBC, Bestwick also called
Arena football
Indoor American football, or arena football, is a variation of gridiron football played at ice hockey-sized indoor arenas. While varying in details from league to league, the rules of indoor football are designed to allow for play in a smaller ...
games, as well as other minor duties.
After NBC lost rights to NASCAR following the 2006 season, Bestwick decided to leave the network after seven years. Despite TNT retaining its NASCAR rights in the new contract that was signed, Bestwick opted not to stay with them and instead signed on with
ESPN
ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...
.
ESPN
For 2007, Bestwick joined the ''
NASCAR on ESPN
''NASCAR on ESPN'' is the now-defunct former package and branding of coverage of NASCAR races on ESPN, ESPN2, and ABC. ABC, and later the ESPN family of networks, carried NASCAR events from the sanctioning body's top three divisions at various poi ...
'' package as lead pit reporter, as well as occasionally being race coverage host and play-by-play announcer on Nationwide Series races, and occasional ''
NASCAR Now
''NASCAR Now'' was a NASCAR news and analysis show that aired year round Tuesday through Saturday as a thirty-minute show at 2:00am ET on ESPN2. ''NASCAR Now'', that debuted on February 5, 2007, was broadcast in HD from Bristol, Connecticut and ...
'' hosting duties. In 2008, he was moved up to full-time race coverage host and hosts a weekly Monday roundtable edition of ''NASCAR Now''. As lead pit reporter, from 2008–2010, he also hosted ''
NASCAR Countdown
''NASCAR Countdown'' is a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series and Nationwide Series prerace show that debuted on February 17, 2007. It was a live on-site pre-race show for all Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series races televised on ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC. It cam ...
''.
On July 20, 2011, it was announced that Bestwick would replace Marty Reid for the 17 Sprint Cup races hosted by ESPN alongside
Dale Jarrett
Dale Arnold Jarrett (born November 26, 1956) is a former American race car driver and current commentator for NBC. He is best known for winning the Daytona 500 three times (in 1993, 1996, and 2000) and winning the NASCAR Winston Cup Series champi ...
and
Andy Petree
Joseph Andrew Petree III (born August 15, 1958), is a former NASCAR crew chief, driver, team owner, and broadcaster who has worked as the rules analyst for ''Fox NASCAR'' and the Vice President of Competition at Richard Childress Racing. After ra ...
.
Nicole Briscoe
Nicole Briscoe ( Manske; born July 2, 1980) is an American sportscaster who is employed by ESPN. Originally focused on covering auto racing for the network, which included stints as the host of ''NASCAR Countdown'' and ''NASCAR Now'', Briscoe beca ...
would replace him as host of NASCAR Countdown alongside
Rusty Wallace
Russell William "Rusty" Wallace Jr. (born August 14, 1956) is an American former NASCAR racing driver. He has won the 1984 NASCAR Cup series Rookie of the Year and the 1989 NASCAR Winston Cup Championship. Over the course of his successful care ...
and
Brad Daugherty Brad Daugherty may refer to:
* Brad Daugherty (basketball) (born 1965), American NBA player, currently a television sportscaster
* Brad Daugherty (poker player) (born 1951), American poker player
{{Hndis, Daugherty, Brad ...
. Bestwick replaced
Marty Reid as play-by-play announcer for the
Sprint Cup Series
The NASCAR Cup Series is the top racing series of the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR). The series began in 1949 as the Strictly Stock Division, and from 1950 to 1970 it was known as the Grand National Division. In 1971 ...
races starting at the
Brickyard 400
The Brickyard 400 was an annual NASCAR Cup Series points race held at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana. The inaugural race was held in 1994 and was the first race other than the Indianapolis 500 to be held at the Indianapolis Moto ...
, returning him to the position for the first time since 2004. Bestwick also called the
Nationwide Series
The NASCAR Xfinity Series (NXS) is a stock car racing series organized by NASCAR. It is promoted as NASCAR's second-tier circuit to the organization's top level Cup Series. NXS events are frequently held as a support race on the day prior to a ...
for the remainder of the
2013 season after Reid was fired from ESPN.
With the end of ESPN's NASCAR coverage after the 2014 season, Bestwick became the lead announcer for ESPN's broadcasts of
IndyCar
INDYCAR, LLC, is an American-based auto racing sanctioning body for Indy car racing and other disciplines of open wheel car racing. The organization sanctions five racing series: the premier IndyCar Series with its centerpiece the Indianapolis ...
races for
ABC
ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet.
ABC or abc may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting
* American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster
** Disney–ABC Television ...
beginning in 2014, also replacing Reid. Bestwick also began to perform play-by-play duties for non-racing events, including
college football
College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States.
Unlike most ...
.
On
Halloween
Halloween or Hallowe'en (less commonly known as Allhalloween, All Hallows' Eve, or All Saints' Eve) is a celebration observed in many countries on 31 October, the eve of the Western Christian feast of All Saints' Day. It begins the observanc ...
night in 2015, Bestwick called the
Miami
Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...
-
Duke
Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they are ran ...
college football game, when Miami was down 27–24 with 6 seconds in the game and won the game on a controversial kickoff return touchdown after lateraling the ball eight times.
Taken short... lateral... they practiced that on Wednesday. Time's going to expire on the game, so this either goes or this doesn't. Ball's still alive! It's got to be a backwards lateral! Get behind it... still alive. They've got blockers, they've got blockers! They've got a lane! 40 yard line! ''No black shirts between the goal line! CAN YOU BELIEVE WHAT YOU JUST SAW?!?!''
On April 28, 2017, Bestwick confirmed that he was being released by ESPN after the 2017 IndyCar double-header Detroit Grand Prix and would call his last Indy 500. However, in February of 2018, ESPN announced that they would be bringing Bestwick back to call the Indy 500 in 2018.
CBS
On April 14, 2021, it was announced that Bestwick will be the playbyplay commentator for the
Superstar Racing Experience
Superstar Racing Experience (SRX), officially known as the Camping World SRX Series, is an American stock car racing series founded by Tony Stewart, Ray Evernham, Sandy Montag and George Pyne. The formation of the series was announced on July 13, ...
(SRX) racing series for
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...
starting in 2021. Bestwick also did PA work for IMS during the Month of May the same year in addition to the NASCAR-IndyCar doubleheader weekend in August.
On July 25, 2022, it was announced that Bestwick will be a sideline reporter for the
Professional Bull Riders
The Professional Bull Riders, Inc. (PBR) is an international professional bull riding organization based in Pueblo, Colorado, United States. In the U.S., PBR events have been televised on CBS and CBS Sports Network since 2012. In 2013, the ...
Team Series, which would begin its inaugural season that year.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bestwick, Allen
1961 births
Living people
Motorsport announcers
People from Newport, Rhode Island
Arena football announcers
College football announcers
Track and field broadcasters
College hockey announcers in the United States
American television reporters and correspondents
College basketball announcers in the United States
Tennis commentators
Golf writers and broadcasters
category:National Football League announcers