Matt Kenseth “auditioned” spotters before picking his new one

DAYTONA BEACH, FL - FEBRUARY 20: Matt Kenseth, driver of the #20 Dollar General Toyota, stands in the garage area during practice for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway on February 20, 2013 in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Photo by Jerry Markland/Getty Images)
DAYTONA BEACH, FL - FEBRUARY 20:  Matt Kenseth, driver of the #20 Dollar General Toyota, stands in the garage area during practice for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway on February 20, 2013 in Daytona Beach, Florida.  (Photo by Jerry Markland/Getty Images)
DAYTONA BEACH, FL – FEBRUARY 20: Matt Kenseth, driver of the #20 Dollar General Toyota, stands in the garage area during practice for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway on February 20, 2013 in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Photo by Jerry Markland/Getty Images)

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Spotter Chris Osborne didn’t know at the time that he was part of a two-month audition process conducted by driver Matt Kenseth and crew chief Jason Ratcliff.

But the man who goes by the handle @crazy_spotter on Twitter passed the meticulous test admirably and now is installed as spotter for Kenseth and his new No. 20 Toyota team at Joe Gibbs Racing.

One area of concern to the 2003 NASCAR Sprint Cup champion, after he announced plans to leave Roush Fenway Racing and join the Gibbs organization, was finding a spotter to replace Mike Calinoff, who opted to remain with Roush Fenway.

Calinoff and Kenseth had a rhythm and repartee that would be difficult to duplicate. That’s why Kenseth and Ratcliff listened to hours of audio before making their choice.

“I did a lot of research last year — Jason and I did — before we really interviewed or offered a job to a spotter,” Kenseth told the NASCAR Wire Service on Friday at Daytona International Speedway. “I listened to a lot of different audio… I was so sick of listening to spotters and drivers and crew chiefs talking back and forth.

“I just listened to a lot of audio from different races that we recorded, so I could listen to different spotters and their style, without them knowing that you’re listening to them.”

More than anything else, Kenseth was looking for a spotter who fit his laid-back style. He found that in Osborne, who was spotter for the No. 22 car at Penske Racing.

“There’s a lot of things I look for,” said Kenseth, the defending Daytona 500 champion and a two-time winner of NASCAR’s most important race. “One thing is the way they talk, how clear they sound, their accent — all that stuff, so it’s something you can understand — somebody that doesn’t get excited, somebody that’s calm, and gives you all the information.

“I was excited with what I heard (with Osborne), and that being said, when you do that research, you don’t want to find somebody where you need to change 10 things. I liked the information that he was giving the other guys, and I was like, ‘Man, just go do your deal; if we have to make any adjustment, we’ll make ’em.’ And we really haven’t had to make any adjustments. I haven’t really told him to do anything different.

“We tried to do our research. It took a couple months to figure out who we wanted, if we could get him, and that was Chris.”

Greg Engle
About Greg Engle 7421 Articles
Greg is a published award winning sportswriter who spent 23 years combined active and active reserve military service, much of that in and around the Special Operations community. Greg is the author of "The Nuts and Bolts of NASCAR: The Definitive Viewers' Guide to Big-Time Stock Car Auto Racing" and has been published in major publications across the country including the Los Angeles Times, the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He was also a contributor to Chicken Soup for the NASCAR Soul, published in 2010, and the Christmas edition in 2016. He wrote as the NASCAR, Formula 1, Auto Reviews and National Veterans Affairs Examiner for Examiner.com and has appeared on Fox News. He holds a BS degree in communications, a Masters degree in psychology and is currently a PhD candidate majoring in psychology. He is currently the weekend Motorsports Editor for Autoweek.