When veteran crew chief Rodney Childers was released last week after only nine races into his tenure with Spire Motorsports, it shocked much of NASCAR. After all, this was the same guy who took Kevin Harvick to the 2014 NASCAR Cup championship, and who shared 37 of Harvick’s 60 career Cup wins.
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But in just over two months as crew chief for Justin Haley, the pair just seemed to be stuck in a rut, unable to click. In that nine-race tenure together, Haley’s best finish was 10th at Homestead. What likely sealed Childers’ fate was in their last three races together, when Haley finished 28th, 24th, and 13th.
And then, last Tuesday morning, Haley came into Spire’s shop, ready for the team’s weekly meeting, and suddenly was told Childers was out and Ryan Sparks would be interim crew chief for the remainder of the season.
Haley was quoted as saying he and Childers just weren’t a good fit. Childers may have gotten a bit of satisfaction in that Haley and Sparks, in their first race together, finished 25th this past Sunday at Talladega.
Earlier this week, Childers was asked by Dave Moody on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio about his future plans. Specifically whether he sees himself returning to the crew chief role or perhaps taking on a different position, such as a competition director, with a new team.
“I think I would be okay with either (crew chief or competition director), but I’d want it to be in an organization where we can win races and have a lot of fun and do all those things,” Childers told Moody. “I had a couple opportunities last year to go after a competition director thing, and I was just stuck on one day, if I wanted to be in the (NASCAR) Hall of Fame, then I need more wins than 40.” Childers is tied for second among active crew chiefs with 40 wins.
“All that kind of stuff means a lot to me and I want to keep chasing those numbers,” Childers said. “And I want to have more poles, wins and all that. If something came about that was better and I got to wear a white shirt on Sundays, I’d be okay with that too,” he went on to add.
“This sport means a lot to me. It’s more than just me going out and winning races. I want to see it succeed, I want the fans to be happy, I want to see us put on good shows and want the people in the garage to have fun, all of us need to keep being together and I want to continue to be a big part of that.”
Childers: My phone has rung less than what I was hoping
Rodney Childers admitted that he’s had a few phone calls about his availability, but with virtually every crew chief role in Cup currently occupied, there’s just not much room at the inn for him right now. But that doesn’t mean room won’t open later this year or during the off-season.
“My phone has rung less than what I was hoping, I’ll be honest with you,” Childers said. “It’s early. I think what happened was a shock to the whole garage and it’s hard to say what’s going to happen.
“There’s changes every year in every team, but there’s gotta be a good mixture and you have to fit and all those things, and you just never know. There’s a lot of teams out there that are probably chasing the same kind of things that we did and maybe they’re just not going to pull the trigger like Spire did, but on the other side, maybe they should.
But Rodney Childers knows all too well that things in NASCAR can turn quickly, both on and off the track. He reflected that his phone being quiet for now can mean that people are trying to be patient and figuring their situation before making a drastic decision.
For now, however, Childers is ready to play the waiting game. It was evident as he said, “I’m excited to get to talk to people and start those conversations and see what’s out there and just take it one day at a time.”
