Allen Bestwick (born on September 24, 1961 in Newport, Rhode Island) is NBC and Turner Network Television's lead pit reporter for their NASCAR Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series coverage, in addition to serving as one of NBC's play-by-play announcers for its regional coverage of the Arena Football League. Bestwick also hosted SPEED Channel's NASCAR Inside Sprint Cup from 1996 to September 12, 2005, when he was replaced by Dave Despain.
Bestwick's broadcasting career began at the age of 15, when he did on-air work for his high school's radio station. His best known pre-television gig was working as an announcer for the Motor Racing Network (MRN) radio network from 1986 to 2000. He does not hold an official position with MRN anymore, but will do some occasional fill-in duties for them when needed. Bestwick joined NBC and TNT in 1999.
On September 29, 2004, Bestwick broke his leg playing in a charity ice hockey game (ice hockey is one of Bestwick's hobbies) near his Rhode Island home. His injury (and the surgery that followed) caused him to be out of work for the next two races. Bill Weber filled in for Bestwick. Bestwick returned in mid-October. In December 2004, rumors began swirling that Bestwick and Weber would switch places in 2005, with Weber taking Bestwick's lap-by-lap duties, and Bestwick taking Weber's position as pre-race host. On December 14, 2004, this switch was confirmed. Bestwick became the lead pit reporter, and serves as occasional lap-by-lap commentator for Busch Series races when those races are stand-alone (meaning, they are held at a different track on a Sprint Cup race weekend). Weber took Bestwick's Nextel Cup lap-by-lap duties.[1]