When NBC Sports telecasts the championship-deciding Verizon IndyCar Series finale on Sunday from Sonoma Raceway, the on-air talent will have an interested viewer in fellow broadcaster and retired NASCAR star Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Earnhardt joined NBCSN booth talent Leigh Diffey and Townsend Bell for a media conference call this week to discuss the INDYCAR finale and the beginning of the NASCAR Cup Series’ playoff format.

Earnhardt will be calling the NASCAR race from Las Vegas that precedes the INDYCAR Grand Prix of Sonoma telecast that airs live at 6:30 p.m. ET Sunday. With double race points on the line, four drivers – Scott Dixon, Alexander Rossi, Will Power and Josef Newgarden – will be racing to become the 2018 Verizon IndyCar Series champion.

From his driving days, Earnhardt realized well the added stress of driving for a championship in a single race.

“It’s a very tense situation because you spend all year racing, and if there’s a mistake or a misstep (in races before the finale), those are things that you don’t take those too hard,” Earnhardt said. “You have in your mind that you can recover, you can rebound, the team can. There’s another race, another week.

“(But) particularly (in) the last event, there is no tomorrow. A mistake and it’s over. A part failure and it’s over. That is evident in every moment of the weekend. That is hanging over your head and right over your shoulder at all times. So the pressure to be perfect, to not misstep, to not make a mental error, by everyone on the team, that pressure is so obvious and apparent.”

Regardless of the pressure, he added, is the need for everyone on the team to deliver a stellar performance under the glaring spotlight.

“You can’t dial it back or be cautious or be careful,” Earnhardt said. “You have to be perfect and fast and excellent. That’s why teams become champions and some teams don’t. The ones that can still perform under that type of pressure are the ones that hold the trophy.”

No matter who winds up as the 2018 champion, Diffey and Bell are adamant that it’s been a season to remember.

Lead announcer Diffey has been most impressed with the universal aero kit he called “aesthetically pleasing but on-track effective.”

“The fan base really feels like this car in INDYCAR with the new aerodynamic package actually looks like an Indy car,” Diffey said. “It has that kind of sexy look about it. It has that sleek look about it. It has raced well, not perfectly. Not all races have been fantastic, but for the majority of the season, it’s got fans and viewers and us tremendously excited again.”

Earlier this year, INDYCAR announced that NBC Sports Group will become the exclusive media rights partner starting in 2019. Bell, the retired driver who serves as a booth analyst along with Paul Tracy, said announcements like that and the 2019 race schedule are serving the series well in its continuing growth.

“Stability and consistency have yielded a lot of positive results for the series, so they haven’t been chasing new, far-out ideas,” Bell said. “They’ve just been kind of bolting down what they already have and getting advance news out early, like the new TV contract with NBC, the schedule, and you’re starting to see the benefit.”

Bell pointed to popular newer events at Gateway Motorsports Park and Portland International Raceway, as well as an expected increase in car count for next season as proof.

“We’re going to be up into the mid-20s, I understand, next year on full-time entries, where normally we’re right around 20 cars full-time,” Bell said. “So the demand is up. We see it in some of the events that have been added like Portland and St. Louis (Gateway), where the crowds have been terrific, great energy.

“For the first time since I’ve been involved, there’s really just this amazing upward trajectory, and I’ve been involved for 20 years. It’s very refreshing to see.”

Pit reporters Jon Beekhuis, Katie Hargitt, Kevin Lee and Robin Miller will join the booth trio on the race telecast. NBCSN is also scheduled to air both Friday practices (tape delay at 4 p.m. ET and live at 6 p.m.) and Saturday’s Verizon P1 Award qualifying (tape delay at 8 p.m.).

Complete live coverage of the 85-lap race from Sonoma Raceway begins at 6:30 p.m. ET Sunday and will include the championship presentation.