Longtime NASCAR Play-by-Play Announcer and NSMA Board Member, Doug Rice, Honored with Lifetime Achievement Award

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (April 23, 2025) – Longtime NASCAR broadcaster Doug Rice, a former National Sports Media Association (NSMA) board member, will be honored with NSMA’s Lifetime Achievement award, executive director Dave Goren announced today.

For more than three decades, Rice could be heard calling races or hosting talk shows on Performance Racing Network (PRN), where he was president and lead anchor. He retired after the 2024 season with 36 years under his belt. The Salisbury, N.C. resident was a member of the NSMA board of directors from 2012-2017.

Born in Asheville, N.C., Rice attended Appalachian State University, where he worked as a disc jockey at the student radio station, WASU-FM. On weekends, he worked for WSTP/WRDX in Salisbury, mostly as an engineer for ball games and races. He graduated from ASU in 1977.

His motorsports broadcasting career began in 1980 with the Capitol Radio Network, calling Busch Series races at South Boston (Virginia) Speedway. He started as a pit reporter before moving into the booth.

In 1988, Rice joined Speedway Motorsports as Program and Affiliate Director for PRN, and in 1992, he moved into the booth as anchor, calling more than 200 NASCAR Cup Series races through 2024. In 2005, he was promoted to President.

A three-time National Motorsports Press Association (NMPA) Broadcaster of the Year (2007, 2022 and 2023), Rice has also been honored with:

• 2022 NMPA Joe Littlejohn Award for service to the NMPA.
• 2020 North Carolina Motorsports Association Jim Hunter Memorial Media Award.
• 2017 Horace Billings Lifetime Achievement Award and Salisbury-Rowan Sports Hall of Fame Inductee.

Among Rice’s career highlights:

• Jeff Gordon’s first win in the 1994 Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
• Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s first wins in the Xfinity and Cup Series at Texas Motor Speedway.
• Tony Stewart’s first win at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in the 2005 Brickyard 400.
• The only broadcaster to date to call the Indianapolis 500 and Coca-Cola 600 on-site on the same day (the “Doug Double”).
• Served as lead on more than 1,000 PRN “Fast Talk” shows, providing in-depth coverage, driver interviews, and memorable stories from countless motorsports personalities.

Rice will be honored at the NSMA’s 65^th Awards Banquet, June 30, 2025, at Grandover Resort & Spa – a Wyndham Grand Hotel, in Greensboro, N.C.