Johnny O'Connell has a personality fitting for keeping fans interested during a television broadcast of an American Le Mans Series race, even though his career as one of the sport's more accomplished drivers isn't necessarily finished.

Since his move this season from Corvette to Cadillac, O'Connell, who calls Flowery Branch home, is not driving in the ALMS this season or in Saturday's Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta in Braselton.

Instead, he'll be in the broadcast booth for 12 hours as color commentator for the tape-delayed broadcast that will air from 4-6 p.m. Sunday on ABC. O'Connell has been in the booth for all the ALMS races this season, continuing a broadcasting career he started with the Speed Channel in 1995.

"This is always something that I wanted to do later, but the opportunity presented itself and I'm enjoying it a lot," O'Connell said.

O'Connell doesn't have to do hours of pre-interviews with drivers to learn their history.

After driving professionally for the past 24 years, he knows all the drivers and their back stories, as well as their tendencies on the track.

"I barely talk to the guys before the race," O'Connell said. "I'd rather just go off of gut instinct and what I see.

"I feel like I can give a really accurate portrayal of what is going on in the race."

O'Connell, 49, will be racing Friday in the Sports Car Club of America's World Challenge leading up to Saturday's race.

He's clear about the fact that he'll race again in the Le Mans Series, if the right opportunity comes up.

O'Connell's driving pedigree extends well beyond being a champion at Petit Le Mans.

He's won the circuit's biggest races multiple times, including the biggest race at the 24 Hours of Le Mans four times and the 12 Hours of Sebring eight times.

O'Connell says that in terms of importance, Petit Le Mans is the third biggest race in American Le Mans, but has more sentimental value since it's on his home course.

"The challenge of Petit Le Mans is its length," O'Connell said. "It's one of the big events in the world."

The challenge O'Connell sees, however, in wearing the suit and tie in the broadcast booth is much different than sitting behind the steering wheel for potentially hours on end.

The biggest hurdle to overcome is knowing that an entire day's work is going to be chopped down to only a couple hours to fit the television window.

His best moment of commentary may get chopped out on the editing floor, but O'Connell knows that comes with the territory.

However, on the flip side he says that his job in the booth comes with the best view in the house. At Petit Le Mans, the television crew will be sitting atop the Media Center Tower, just past Turn 12.

O'Connell says the best piece of advice he ever received about broadcasting came from an ESPN staffer. He painted a good picture of how a analyst should view his job.

"He told me to think of it like we're two guys sitting on the couch, watching a race and drinking a beer together," O'Connell said.

In the future, O'Connell said he'd also like to branch out and eventually cover the Indianapolis 500. However, he wants to reserve that for after retirement from driving.

For now, he's going to leave all doors open to get back on the ALMS circuit.

"This is the first time that I'm not driving in the Petit Le Mans, so it's kind of a bittersweet feeling," O'Connell said.