L. D. Ottinger - Busch Series

Busch Series

Ottinger made his Busch debut in the series first year of 1982. He started 8th in the #84 Kelly Builders Chevy at Charlotte. He was only able to complete 155 laps before he crashed out of the event.

In 1983, Ottinger made start. In his first race, he finished 4th at Rockingham, and also had runs of 24th at Darlington and 27th at Charlotte, retiring from both races with transmission problems.

His runs from previous Cup and Busch starts earned Ottinger a full-time ride in 1984. Driving the #10 Schlitz Pontiac, L.D. qualified for 26 of the 29 races. Despite not making those three races, he made up for it with three poles at Daytona, Charlotte, and IRP. Racewise, he had 3 top-5s, with his best being a 3rd at Martinsville. Along with 7 other top-10s, L.D. earned a 7th place finish in points.

Ottinger was able to make all the races in 1985. Despite the fact that he had no poles or no wins, it was still a solid season. He matched his career best finish of 3rd, (Rockingham and Richmond. This led to 6th in the final points.

For 1986, Ottinger got funding from All Pro Auto Parts and moved over to the #2 Parker Racing team when CB Gwyn, owner of the #10 Pontiac team, sold the team to Parker. It resulted once again in a 6th place final showing, but in his first career win. It came at Langley Speedway, where he started fifth and dominated the race. In addition, Ottinger had 12 top-5s and twenty top-10s. His average start was a 10.5 and finish was 11.9, making it by far his best season.

In 1987, Ottinger fell to 9th in points. This was largely because of 9 DNFs. Also, Ottinger could only muster 6 top-5s and 10 top-10s. Despite that, Ottinger finished 2nd four times.

In 1988, Ottinger improved a little, but still finished 9th in the standings. He stayed in the #2, but had a new sponsor in Detroit Gasket. Once again, he did not win any races, but did earn his final Busch Series pole at Myrtle Beach. His best finish of the season was 2nd at Martinsville and Louisville Speedway. He had 5 top-5s and 11 top-10s.

Most important for Ottinger, he was able to return to victory lane in 1989, by virtue of winning the season finale at Martinsville. He had 7 top-5s and 16 top-10s, including a 2nd at Bristol. This improvement made a drastic rise in the standings for Ottinger, as he went to 4th in the final standings.

Ottinger won his final race at Bristol in 1990, in which it was marked by the violent crash of Michael Waltrip. However, the rest of his performance fell. He only managed 5 top-5s and 7 top-10s. Ottinger fell to 8th in the standings. Ottinger closed out his career with a 19th place finish at Daytona.

Ottinger made a return to the track in 2009 to compete in a legends race at Bristol Motor Speedway. Ottinger finished 3rd in a field of twelve competitors which included Rusty Wallace, Terry Labonte, Harry Gant, and race winner Sterling Marlin.