ESPN replaces Jerry Punch as lead announcer

ESPN announced that Marty Reid will replace Jerry Punch as lead announcer for the 17 Cup races ESPN/ABC does in 2010. Punch moves from the announcer's booth back to pit road where he'll be a reporter there. Punch had been the network's lead announcer the past three seasons.

So, the change means Marty Reid will share the booth with analysts Andy Petree and Dale Jarrett.

All other members of ESPN/ABC's crew remains unchanged. Rusty Wallace, Brad Daugherty, Tim Brewer, Ray Evernham and host Allen Bestwick remain in the same roles as before.

Pit road will feature Dave Burns, Jamie Little, Mike Massaro, Shannon Spake, Vince Welch and now Jerry Punch. Assignments and schedules will be announced later.

The move of Punch out of the booth is not surprising. There seemed to be a good bit of fan backlash during the year and ESPN tried a few things that made one wonder, running one Nationwide race with no lead announcer and then having Reid do many of the Naionwide races at the end of the year to allow Punch to focus on the Cup stuff -- i.e. it was a tryout for Reid to see how he would do. Obviously, he did well enough.

Even also will call the action for many of the network's Nationwide races -- although it does not say all of them because he'll be the lead announcer for the network's five IndyCar telecasts. Does not say who will take over for him in the NASCAR races when he's doing the IndyCar stuff.

"This group gives us the most versatile and comprehensive team in motorsports, and strengthens us in the booth,'' said Norby Williamson, ESPN executive vice president, studio and event production, in the news release.

"We play to the strengths of our announcers, and Marty's strength is calling the tactical aspects of the race while deferring to the analysts. And from the early days of our NASCAR coverage, Jerry helped evolve the significant role that reporting from the pits plays. He will bolster our already-strong stable of pit reporters.''

So, this move now leaves only TNT to resolve who will be its lead announcer after replacing Bill Weber in the middle of its six-race run last year. Ralph Sheheen replaced him and one would suspect he would be the favorite to retain that position. Mike Joy is back with Fox for next season.

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