NASCAR and INDYCAR Spotter, Brent Wentz Makes Second Attempt at “The Double”

Kyle Larson, Tony Stewart, and John Andretti are just a few of the drivers who have attempted “The Double,” but what about crew members who have chased the same feat?

Brent Wentz, current spotter of the No. 51 Ford Mustang Dark Horse at Rick Ware Racing in the NASCAR Cup Series, is no stranger to racing’s biggest stages. The seasoned spotter has celebrated in victory lane at the Daytona 500 with Matt Kenseth in 2012 and kissed the bricks with Takuma Sato after winning the Indianapolis 500 in 2020. Now, for the second year in a row, he’s attempting one of his greatest feats yet: “The Double”.

The first opportunity presented itself when Wentz signed on as the primary spotter for Rick Ware Racing’s NASCAR Cup Series program. At the time, Team President Robbie Denton and Team Owner Rick Ware had talked about doing “The Double” through a partnership with Dale Coyne Racing. While that plan fizzled out, another path emerged, taking the Pennsylvania native back to Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing (RLL).

“I always had a relationship with RLL, obviously, working with them in 2020 and 2021,” Wentz explained. “So they’ve always asked me to do it [“The Double”], but logistically, it wasn’t going to happen. And we talked about it with RWR and, you know, we thought it would be a cool story, and something trying to try to do, and they were all about it. Robbie always tells me when you get an opportunity to do those kinds of things we want you to do, and we’re gonna be behind you to do it.”

With both teams’ blessings, and a priority on the Indy 500, Wentz set his sights on completing a successful first go at 1,100 miles of racing from the spotter’s stand. But getting approval from both teams was the least of his worries because Mother Nature was the one who had the final say.

“You watched the weather and knew it was going to rain. I mean, it never changed for 10 days, it said it was going to rain,” Wentz remembered. “So I had an airplane ready for me to go after the race with a couple of sponsors that I knew were going back and forth. And, you know, when the race kept getting pushed back and pushed back and pushed back, you just knew that it wasn’t going to happen.”

As the rain poured in both Indianapolis and Charlotte, Wentz made the decision to stay at “The Brickyard”, taking a commercial flight back home to North Carolina the following day. So, after countless hours of planning, significant personal expenses for travel, and hopeful prayers to the sky, Wentz’s first attempt at “the Double” came up short.

But not all was lost. This year, Wentz is more prepared than ever, armed with last year’s experiences and critical support.

As was the case in 2024, if weather or delays created a scheduling conflict, Rick Ware Racing will have another spotter on standby in Charlotte to take Wentz’s place. This year, that person is Chris Osbourne, spotter for Corey LaJoie when he runs RWR’s unchartered Cup Series entry.

Second, Hendrick Motorsports is stepping in and lending a helping hand when it comes to travel logistics.

“We put a lot of effort and money and things of my own to get going,” he shared about last year’s attempt. “But this year, thankful to Hendrick and all the people there. I’ll be getting on one of their planes after the Indy 500 and flying back with them. They have three planes, so obviously, not Kyle’s [Larson] but one of their airplanes. So logistics-wise, this year, I think it’s going to work out a little bit better.”

With travel and personnel logistics in place, Wentz can now focus on calling the action from the spotter’s stand during one of the biggest weekends in American motorsports. And focus is exactly what he’ll need as he transitions from spotting an open-wheel series on its biggest stage to a stock car series on the same day, at two different tracks, with two entirely different fields of competitors. Though Wentz shares that he uses the same spotting style with both his IndyCar and NASCAR drivers, he does share some of the difficulties of going from one series to another.

“In NASCAR, the drivers know who the other cars are. In IndyCar, you have to tell everybody by name because you don’t see numbers on the back, just a blinking light, you know, a spoiler,” Wentz shared. “So when you’re behind somebody, you really don’t know who you’re behind. You know, NASCAR, you look at the back window, and it’s pretty spot on. You know who you’re racing. So you have to know the cars, you have to know  the paint schemes, you have to know the drivers’ names, and that’s how we communicate.”

Though Wentz is well-versed in switching between NASCAR and IndyCar thanks to years of experience spotting in both series, he’ll still be making a late adjustment ahead of this year’s 109th running of the Indianapolis 500 – one that involves a driver change.

Through all of practice and qualifying, Wentz was working with Devlin DeFrancsesco, the driver of the No. 30 for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing. On Saturday, the 25-year-old driver managed to place his bright pink and orange DOGECOIN-sponsored car 16th on the grid, the best Indy 500 qualifying effort in his career. Meanwhile, his teammate, Takuma Sato, managed to race his way into the “Fast Six”, and will start from the front row in second.

On the same day, the two-time Indianapolis 500 winner requested that he and Wentz be paired together for the race – a request the team made happen. 

“Takuma is a great driver, mentor and friend. I have a lot of respect for him and his career accomplishments. To have him vouch for me is very cool. On the other hand, I really was looking forward to working with Devlin and seeing what we could accomplish next Sunday. We made big gains last week and felt like we had a car capable of competing at a high level in the 500. But it’s business as usual; this is racing, and things will always happen fast. Being versatile and ready when called upon is the name of the game.”

“This was ultimately a decision made by Takuma and RLL with the intentions of having the best communications for the 500 with a great car and starting spot,” Wentz explained. “Nothing was amiss with the 30 or 75 spotter lineups, as this was merely something that came up from past experience and communication in previous 500’s. It’s really no different than any other professional sports, if there is an opinion that fits better in certain situations, use it to better the whole operation if applicable.”

A last-minute change like this could have rattled even the most experienced professionals. But for Wentz, the combination of familiarity with Sato and plenty of practice atop the spotter’s stand at the iconic Indianapolis Motor Speedway has him feeling confident heading into race day.

As he chases the successful completion of “The Double”, Wentz has not lost sight of the magnitude of what he is doing – or what he’s already accomplished at the Indy 500.

“You don’t ever take a step back, right, and look at it all, because you’re so focused on the next week and the next week, right? After the Indy 500, I sat in the airport by myself and took it all in, right? And it kind of got a little emotional, right? Because you don’t see yourself doing these kinds of things, and you’re lucky to have it, you know, you gotta have the support of everyone. You gotta have a supportive family. Because, man, you’re gone so much so, you know chokes me up a little bit, you know?”

Wentz will have plenty of supporters cheering him on this Sunday as he makes his second attempt at “The Double”, starting with the 109th running of the Indianapolis 500 at 12:45 PM ET on FOX, followed by the Coca-Cola 600 at 6:00 PM ET on Prime Video.

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