Ottinger grew up immersed in short-track racing in the American Southeast. His grassroots career in late-model competition earned him enough recognition to gain occasional NASCAR Winston Cup starts, and by the early 1980s he had secured the kind of consistent sponsorship and equipment needed to mount full Busch Series campaigns.
Ottinger made his major NASCAR debut in 1966, driving for Ken Carpenter at Smoky Mountain Raceway. He started 21st in a 29-car field but was eliminated by a crash on lap 33, finishing 28th. His next Cup appearance did not come until 1973 at Bristol Motor Speedway, where he drove the No. 45 Chevrolet for James Bryant. Starting from eleventh, he worked his way forward to second position before the race concluded. Shortly after, at Talladega, Ottinger started 26th and finished a creditable tenth driving the No. 02 Lonesome Pine Raceway Chevrolet.
Ottinger made four Cup starts in 1974 but failed to finish any of them, with a best result of 25th at one of the Bristol events. His final Cup appearances came in 1984, when he replaced the recently released Joe Ruttman in Ron Benfield's No. 98 Levi Garrett entry for two races, finishing 21st at Charlotte and 22nd at North Wilkesboro Speedway.
The Busch Grand National Series became Ottinger's primary arena from its inaugural 1982 season onward. He debuted in the No. 84 Kelly Builders Chevrolet at Charlotte, starting eighth before crashing out after 155 laps. In 1983 he ran selected events, posting a fourth-place finish at Rockingham as his best result.
The 1984 season marked a turning point. Ottinger secured a full-time ride in the No. 10 Schlitz Pontiac, qualifying for 26 of 29 races. He earned three poles — at Daytona, Charlotte, and Indianapolis Raceway Park — and collected three top-five finishes, with his best a third at Martinsville, along with seven additional top-tens. He finished seventh in the series standings.
In 1985 Ottinger made every race and matched his career-best third-place result twice, at Rockingham and Richmond, climbing to sixth in the final standings. For 1986, with backing from All Pro Auto Parts, he moved to the No. 2 Parker Racing team. The season was by far his finest: twelve top-fives, twenty top-tens, and, most importantly, his first career Busch Series victory at Langley Speedway, where he started fifth and dominated the field. He again finished sixth in points.
A difficult 1987 season, marked by nine DNFs, dropped him to ninth in the standings despite four second-place finishes. In 1988, still driving the No. 2 with Detroit Gasket sponsorship, Ottinger again placed ninth in points with five top-fives and eleven top-tens. He earned his final Busch Series pole at Myrtle Beach, and his best finishes were runner-up efforts at Martinsville and Louisville Speedway.
Ottinger returned to victory lane in 1989, winning the season finale at Martinsville with seven top-fives and sixteen top-tens across the campaign, vaulting him to fourth in the final standings. In 1990 he added a final win at Bristol — a race remembered in part for a violent crash involving Michael Waltrip — but his overall results declined, leaving him eighth in points. He closed out his Busch Series career in 1991 with a nineteenth-place finish at Daytona.
Ottinger returned to competition in 2009 for a legends race at Bristol Motor Speedway, finishing third in a twelve-car field that included former Cup champions Rusty Wallace, Terry Labonte, and Sterling Marlin, with Marlin taking the win.
Over roughly a decade of consistent Busch Series competition, Ottinger established himself as a durable short-track specialist. His three Busch Series wins, multiple poles, and consistent top-ten pace across six full seasons reflected the skills he honed in the Late Model Sportsman ranks. He remains one of the more productive drivers of the series' formative years in the mid-1980s.