In a truly shocking revelation, Spire Motorsports announced earlier this week that it was terminating Rodney Childers from the position of the No. 7 team’s crew chief. The team cited his dynamics with the team as the issue and replaced him with Ryan Sparks. Carson Hocevar spoke about this monumental change in his organisation and explained why it shouldn’t be surprising.
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He said in Talladega, “This is the plan. Strategic, aggressive moves are what they do, right? Within the (organisation), talking to them, it’s not a surprise for me.
“I don’t think it’s a surprise for Spire. I don’t think it’s a surprise for even the industry. It’s just a big surprise for everybody outside.” Spire has made it a habit to make massive moves that nobody expects it to. The force behind this is Jeff Dickerson.
The team co-owner seldom hesitates to make hard changes to help long-term goals. Fortunately, his teams and his drivers have got his back. Hocevar expressed strong confidence in Dickerson’s judgment and believed that it would ultimately benefit them all.
The split came in the wake of the Easter break, during which a lot of analysing had been done about the season’s first nine races. Dickerson told the press, “We took the opportunity to discuss the best paths forward for everyone involved, and the team and Rodney agreed that it would be best for us to part ways.”
It is no secret that Childers is a legendary crew chief who won the Cup Series championship with Kevin Harvick in 2014. Despite all the reasoning, letting him go does come off as a questionable choice.
Why Justin Haley was surprised by the news
Hocevar said that Childers’ termination shouldn’t surprise insiders who knew the operational character of Spire Motorsports. However, his teammate Justin Haley admitted to being surprised when he heard the news. It is with Haley that Childers has been working since the start of the season. Interestingly, the No. 7 driver revealed on Saturday that he wasn’t even involved in the decision.
“I was not [involved], no. I showed up Tuesday, and we had our normal Tuesday 8 AM meeting with the No. 7 team to come here and see how we were going to try to win the race. And then after my meetings on Tuesday, I was notified,” he said. “Yeah, I mean, it was unexpected. But to be honest with you, I don’t know if anything in this sport surprises me anymore,” Haley added.
Haley has come to terms with the fact that dealing with such surprises is a part of the sport. Hopefully, he will be able to find better chemistry with Sparks. He currently stands 23rd in the points table ahead of the Talladega race.
