Jamie Little, Phil Parsons
Jamie Little and Phil Parsons (FOX Sports)

FOX Sports’ ARCA Menards Series broadcast team strikes ideal blend of expertise, personality and diversity

www.arcaracing.com February 16, 2022

Around this time last year, Jamie Little was rattled.

To say the veteran sports broadcaster was a nervous wreck would be an overstatement, but an undercurrent of uncertainty flowed as she prepared for her debut as the first woman to call television play-by-play for a national racing series. There was not much that hundreds of pit reporting experiences could do to prepare her for work in a broadcast booth.

Little’s debut at Daytona International Speedway went well, of course. As did the entire season as she called ARCA Menards Series races for FOX Sports.

This year, as Little returns for a second stint in the same role, she is far from rattled.

“It just feels comfortable now,” Little allowed in a conversation with ARCARacing.com. “I know what to expect. It’s more about being excited to do it again. Not the uncertainty of, ‘Oh man, what’s it going to be like?’

“And that means everything to me.”

RELATED: Previewing Saturday’s opener at Daytona

Jamie Little, Phil Parsons
(FOX Sports)

Little is the most prominent voice on a FOX Sports ARCA Menards Series broadcast team that has struck an ideal blend of talent, personality and chemistry. That balance was built over the last year, and it carries into 2022, even as new faces join the crew.

Phil Parsons, a former driver and the brother of 1973 NASCAR Cup Series champion Benny Parsons, once again will join Little in FOX’s booth as lead analyst. Kate Osborne will serve as the team’s pit reporter, with Josh Sims joining her on pit road at Daytona and more ARCA Menards Series races to be announced.

The mix is perfect. Little is the racing-crazed storyteller who is able to communicate unique angles as an announcer with reporting roots. Parsons is the go-to for a driver’s perspective in his analyst role. Osborne is the pit-reporting ace who grew up around racing. Sims is the newcomer with a news background who adds perspective from his roles covering other sports earlier in his career.

“Realistically, it’s a dream to work with them,” Osborne said of Little, Parsons and Sims.

The group also benefits from its diversity, which is fitting for a team that covers one of the most diverse racing series in the country in terms of age, gender and race. Four of the five drivers who have announced plans to run full-time in the ARCA Menards Series in 2022 — Amber Balcaen, Toni Breidinger, Nick Sanchez and Rajah Caruth — are minority drivers.

The series also features drivers who range from ages 18 (or younger at certain tracks) to 79, as Benny Chastain will race at Daytona.

“It’s refreshing,” Little said of the reflective diversity between FOX Sports’ broadcast team and the ARCA Menards Series. “It’s a great example of what’s to come, a great example of our fan base out there.

“I got involved because I was such a big race fan, and I realized there were no women talking on the broadcast who I could relate to. And I became that person. And I know that’s the same for others in the field.”

Little can’t recall a busier year than 2021, when she added her ARCA play-by-play duties on top of her already-loaded schedule of pit reporting duties in the NASCAR Cup Series and elsewhere. She’ll have the same schedule in 2022, but the familiarity with which she armed herself over the last 12 months will help.

So will the chemistry she developed with Parsons, Osborne and others who joined the team as guests.

While she’s not new to racing, Little is still relatively new to the ARCA Menards Series. That’s why she and Parsons are such a perfect pairing in the booth. He fills those voids for his partner.

“That’s exactly what an analyst should do,” Little explained. “So (last year), I was able to set him up, and he could run with it from an analyst’s perspective. I was very careful to allow him to be him, and he was aware of not doing my job. Some people don’t realize they can run together. There are other broadcasters that, they’re in the booth, and all of the sudden they’re doing the play by play, and the other way around.”

Added Parsons on his working relationship with Little: “I just love her work ethic. She works at so hard and cares deeply about it.”

The chemistry does not end in the booth. Its development between the booth and the pits is vital.

That’s why Osborne is thankful for the skill and grace both Little and Parsons display when setting her up for her contributions to the broadcast. It helps that Little herself is a pit reporter who knows the challenges of that role.

“Sometimes it’s as small as a tone being set,” Osborne explained. “The other angle of it is with me as a reporter relaying our part of the conversation, and I’m adding value to their conversation. So there’s a chemistry there that is learned.

“By the end of the season, looking back, they were comfortable with their roles, and they were really able to listen to what I was providing. Because they weren’t trying to figure out their own traffic.”

Josh Sims
Josh Sims (FOX Sports)

Sims recently joined FOX Sports’ NASCAR team with a history covering everything from football to horse racing: “You name it, I feel like I’ve covered it,” he joked.

And this career move is no accident. Sims said his first NASCAR assignment upon moving to Charlotte, North Carolina, to work for FOX 46 was the 2016 Daytona 500, which ended with Denny Hamlin beating Martin Truex Jr. in a photo finish.

Sims immediately was hooked on racing. And not just because of that photo finish.

“Once I got down here covering it, I was (amazed by) how accessible the drivers and teams are,” Sims said. “Everyone is willing to talk to you. Other sports it can be difficult. With NASCAR, I can remember having access to one-on-ones. Your mind is blown with the access to just talk with them and chop it up.”

Little, Parsons and Osborne all noted how Sims’ newfound passion for motorsports is a reinvigorating factor on the team. Sims said all have been huge helping him prepare for his new role — he has just a few pit-reporting experiences, all last season on NASCAR Camping World Truck Series broadcasts.

“He’s working extremely hard to get up to pace,” Parsons said of Sims. “He’s a professional, and he really does a nice job. He’s into it, and he’s going to enjoy (the ARCA Menards Series), as well.”

MORE DAYTONA: Entry list | Schedule | Race Info

The chemistry of FOX Sports’ ARCA Menards Series broadcast team is more than strong enough to endure appearances from guest analysts in the booth with Little and Parsons. For example, NASCAR Cup Series driver and 2016 ARCA Menards Series champion Chase Briscoe will join the booth at Daytona.

Of course, as Parsons noted, it helps when those guest analysts are so good in their appearances. Both he and Little made points to note the value current drivers add to the show.

For all these reasons — the new level of comfort, the strong chemistry, the range of personality and the diversity — all are looking forward to their ARCA Menards Series broadcasts in 2022.

They should be. As should those who watch on FS1. The blend is ideal for the proper conveyance of such a unique series.