Matthew Owens reacts to Leigh Diffey coming to NASCAR on NBC's booth | GRID Tonight: Hots and Nots

I also have to say the biggest hot in the world right now is Lee DIY oh my gosh I'm so excited I'm so happy I'm so happy for Lee DIY so let so let me tell you a quick story uh I at one time in my at one time in my life I did a Sports Talk Show in the morning uh morning Sports Talk Show that's probably a better way to put it and I had Lee DIY on as a guest one time he just was so nice uh so accommodating we had a great conversation about Indie Car about Formula 1 um I think at that time his what he was doing with the Olympics was rowing he had not gotten into track and field yet but we just had a great conversation um and and you know I love sports media and I love delving into it but I I just he's so great at everything he does but what we often don't get to see is just how great people these people are and and he really is one of the best and he's worked so hard I mean could you have even imagined I I don't want to spend 20 minutes on this but just speaking from your experience Josh and everything that you have done trying to get up the broadcasting ladder could you imagine a world where you were quite literally a world away in Australia and you put in all of this work to get somewhere in this industry somewhere big in this industry and think about what he's done Rolex 24 Lama Indianapolis 500 the voice of indie car on a major American Network and now on that same network he's going to be the voice of NASCAR on television who who could have ever dreamed that all the voices that we've had in the past of NASCAR on TV we have had Jackie Stewart this was long long long time ago and he was on very little on the races that ABC covered back in the day which weren't very many uh we've had David Hobbs at CBS who could have imagined an Australian voice of NASCAR in America I I just think what Lee DIY has done is is unbelievable it it should have a documentary on him at some point because he has just done such amazing work and to get to this point baath 1000 um to get to this point really had to be you think he could have ever DED of that no no couldn't have done and he he he was in he was part of the BBC actually over here in the UK for many years he was the Mur it wasn't called Mur GP then it was uh 5 it was the gr motorcycle gr Prix uh but he was part of the BBC coverage alongside Susie Perry and uh Steve parish as well back in the day and then he left at the end 2001 went Stateside and he he was taken over by Charlie Cox and let me tell those Charlie Cox Susie peran and um Steve parish as a Joo the stories you could tell of those three as well and they are very funny people um but he's always remembered and I think he he always leaves a mark about where he is across every single Paddock and he is a testament to how brilliant a broadcastter you can be that everybody wants you to work in your Motorsports series and he covered the race in Michigan in 2017 and NASCAR put that clip up a few days ago the finish of that was more energetic than Rick Allen's and I think that's what NASCAR's missing you get the sensible but energetic calls on Fox with Mike joy and you respect Mike Joy with it all as well but then we're missing the we're missing the Alan bwick so I'm missing it where you want to watch this race and you want to be on the edge of your seat listening to the commentators Go full full bean and that's what Lee Diffy does and that's what I think NBC really need on their NASCAR team and I'm very happy that they've made the the call I said in our grid network chat to me the box issue on NBC because I've watched a couple when I haven't been in the box and you lot have been calling it as well I've watched the next day and I flip back and I always watched the highlights see as probably you do Matthew as well see what tips we can bring up and see what they were saying in the Box the NBC box this year feels flat and dead without Dale and I don't it's just Rick Allen's like not even trying this year how that's I got how deep you want to get into this B Jenkins was the stand out I I will admit that how deep do you want to get into this I I ask because eight minutes I just ask because you can be on the edge of your seat watching a race on television without the announcer announcers yeah screaming over the top of everything and Rick has just not been able to con consistently match the moment with what the moment deserves I've said this all the time Alan bestwick amazing at just shutting up and letting the pictures tell us the story M Joy does it so well Ken did it well Bob Jenkins did it well Rick has just not been able to consistently give that and Lee what I can't wait to hear from Lee is this weekend at Daytona first time for him doing this super speedway pack racing and I would imagine even with all of his experience with 500s and ba thirst 1000s and all of these big races it's going to take his breath away at the start and I I hope for him and Lee Diffy does not need me giving him any advice but if I were to just say one thing when his breath does get taken away for that first time on Saturday night when they're three and four wide five rows deep just lay out watch it you warned me about that when I started at dayt this year yeah because it it is like you may commentate Indie Car 500s and Formula 1 and you know lights out starts and everything but green flag rolling Ro starts at Daytona and in N just completely different you've got to be looking at so much stuff uh one time I'm trying to pick out and identify cars and I'm still getting it wrong now it's my first year in the NASCAR box fully and I'm still getting it wrong and I'm still I'm still get to have that feeling of leaving the comment box and going yeah that went right that went right because I still don't and think many people do because there's always levels you can improve upon and I'm so looking forward to hearing what he's got to say this weekend I think everybody is and I think um Ken Squire has got oh K as well that was fantastic wasn't it as well I think the the one I listen to MRN all the time as well says great Franklin as well um Ben also says for every Homestead 2016 there 10 aggressive goes around the outside they goes around with Rick Allen yeah I mean commentators have their little sayings don't they as well I mean we picked them quite a lot um in commentaries because the one thing you can't do as accommodator is going uh uh can't do that you got you can't lose control either yeah yeah that's another thing as well and I think that's why you've got to have the right number of people in the box so you've got to know who's going where and keep it lined up as well