Weber to fill in for Bestwick in NBC booth

ATLANTA -- NBC play-by-play man Allen Bestwick suffered a broken leg earlier this week and will not be in the broadcast booth this weekend at Talladega.

Bill Weber

Bestwick suffered the injury playing hockey near his home in Coventry, R. I., on Wednesday night, breaking his leg in two places above the ankle. He underwent successful surgery on Thursday.

Lead pit reporter Bill Weber will fill-in as play-by-play man with analysts Wally Dallenbach and Benny Parsons.

"Our thoughts are with Allen for a speedy recovery," said Ken Schanzer, President, NBC Sports. "Having a multi-talented guy like Bill able to step in at a moment's notice is a real luxury. It's a benefit to have a deep and talented team and be able to adjust when unfortunate circumstances like this arise."

Weber expects an exciting weekend.

"For the guys in the Chase, this is by far the most frightening race of them all because there are so many unknowns," he said. "This is the race that everybody that looked at the schedule with 10 to go and said, 'Talladega is the big mystery because you never know what's going to happen and a lot of it's out of your control.' It's a huge, huge mountain to climb."

Bestwick hopes to be back in the booth next weekend at Kansas Speedway.