Jerry Punch Dr . Jerry Punch ( born August 20 , 1953 ) is an American auto racing and college football commentator on ESPN , as well as a physician . Punch also does local radio spots in Knoxville . Early life and career . Jerry began his broadcasting career in Newton , NC , when he was selected to join the local high school radio station Staff of Newton - Conover High School . The local radio station , WNNC in Newton , NC , provided free air time to the local high school broadcasting organization with rotational assignments to the aspiring broadcast journalists . Students at the high school auditioned for the much sought after staff positions . Jerry was successful and was selected by fellow students to become a new reporter and , thus , he was permitted to participate in the weekly Saturday morning live broadcasts on WNNC . He served as backup quarterback for coach Lou Holtz at NC State and graduated magna cum laude in 1975 . He received a M . D . degree from the Wake Forest University School of Medicine . ESPN career . Punch worked as an Emergency medicine physician at Bunnell Community Hospital ( now known as Florida Hospital Flagler ) before moving to ESPN in 1984 as a pit reporter for NASCAR races . While working at ESPN Punch also moonlighted at TBS doing pit reporting , as he was the first to report on the injuries to driver Terry Schoonover during the 1984 Atlanta Journal 500 for the network ' s race coverage . In 1988 , in two separate incidents , he helped with the rescue efforts after the serious wrecks of Rusty Wallace and Don Marmor . In the case of Rusty Wallace ' s front - stretch crash at Bristol Motor Speedway , Punch happened to be on Pit Road at the time , and as a result , was the first person on the scene before the rescue crew could be scrambled . Punch ' s medical training proved pivotal , as Wallace was initially unconscious following this practice - session crash . Punch revived Wallace , who was able to start the following night ' s race with only minor injuries , driving for about half the race before giving his seat up to a relief driver . Wallace now works with Punch in ESPN ' s coverage of NASCAR . Punch is also credited with helping to save Ernie Irvan following a practice crash at Michigan International Speedway in August 1994 . Punch also had aided injured pit crew members on pit road in several races in the 1990s . While Punch was addressing a Nashville Superspeedway media luncheon he was interrupted by a loud crash from the back of the room . Punch immediately rushed from the podium to the back of the room where Jenny Gill ( daughter of singer / musician , Vince Gill ) , a Nashville Superspeedway intern , had fainted . Punch helped revive the Middle Tennessee State graduate student . She was taken to a local care center for observation and soon recovered , according to Sean Dozier , the Superspeedway ' s public relations director . Punch returned to the podium and resumed his speech . Other assignments for ESPN . Punch also has been ESPN ' s expert for discussion of medical issues , has called play - by - play for college basketball and football , and has served as a sideline reporter for college football . He also was consulted as a doctor in 1996 to report the condition of Nebraska quarterback Tommie Frazier who would go undrafted in the NFL due to a blood clot in his left leg . On October 12 , 2006 , he was named the lead lap - by - lap commentator for ESPN ' s coverage of the Sprint Cup Series and the Nationwide Series starting in 2007 along with Rusty Wallace and Andy Petree . Punch and Petree were joined by Dale Jarrett in 2008 and stayed together until the end of the 2009 season ; ESPN replaced Punch with Marty Reid for 2010 and returned him to pit road . In addition to his pit reporter roles , Punch served as the lead play - by - play voice for ESPN ' s coverage of the Craftsman Truck Series until the network lost that contract to SPEED following the 2002 season . Brief movie career . Punch also appeared as himself as an ESPN commentator , in the 1990 film " Days of Thunder " , which starred Tom Cruise and Robert Duvall . Punch also acted as a technical advisor in the development of the movie