mobile app bar

“They’ve Had a Rough Couple of Weeks”: How Rodney Childers Is Helping Kevin Harvick’s CARS Tour Team Get Back on Track

Jerry Bonkowski
Published

Former NASCAR Cup Series driver Kevin Harvick (right) talks with his crew chief Rodney Childers (left) on pit road during practice and qualifying for the Wurth 400 at Dover Motor Speedway.

Kevin Harvick and crew chief Rodney Childers are back together again. No, Harvick has not unretired and gone back to racing in NASCAR Cup. Rather, Childers is serving as a consultant to Harvick’s CARS Tour team.

It’s keeping Childers busy while he searches for a new job after being fired nearly two weeks ago by Spire Motorsports. Childers served just nine Cup races as crew chief for Spire’s Justin Haley before getting axed.

So, the dynamic duo of Harvick and Childers – who won the 2014 NASCAR Cup championship together and paired up for 37 of Harvick’s 60 career Cup wins – is back together again, so to speak.

Although Harvick is in Texas for Sunday’s Cup race for FOX Sports, Childers was at North Carolina’s Ace Speedway to give a hand to a team that has struggled thus far in 2025.

“Kevin [Harvick] texted me on Monday afternoon, asked me what I was doing this weekend and asked if I could go over to the shop and help his guys a little bit. They’ve had a rough couple of weeks of ups and downs,” Childers told Frontstretch.com. “I’m really just having fun with late models again. This is my background, what I always loved back in the day and raced here myself growing up.

Childers said that it was a lot of fun that week to hang out with the guys and go back through the details of everything. He mentioned that they had a great group of guys working for them, and that they all worked really hard.

Praising them, he said, “They did a great job putting this thing back together from last week. It was really tore up. We had a good weekend.

“We weren’t the best off the truck but continued to make real good adjustments all weekend long and it just got better and better and better and better. That showed in the race, especially on the long runs, that we had a great car.”

Childers also reflected on the strong bond he shares with his long-time colleague Harvick, emphasizing that this personal connection goes beyond racing. He said, “It’s more of a friendship thing than anything. I think everybody knows how much Kevin has done for me over the years, so anytime I can help him, I’m going to do it.”

The born-competitor in him was evident, as he also added, “To show up and run good and have a good car and win a race is pretty special.”

While Childers is still pursuing a new crew chief job in the Cup Series, he’ll likely continue to help out Harvick’s team for the time being. Childers said, “Right now, I’m taking it day by day and hour by hour. I’m just trying to figure it out day by day and what holds next.

“I definitely want to continue to be in the Cup Series and continue to win Cup races, this is just a little bit of extra icing on the cake. It’s fun to win races, that’s what it’s all about.” It may be a transitional phase right now for Rodney Childers, but make no mistake: he will be raring to hit the Cup circuit all guns blazing at the right time.

Post Edited By:Abhishek Ramesh

About the author

Jerry Bonkowski

Jerry Bonkowski

x-icon

Jerry Bonkowski is a veteran sportswriter who has worked full-time for many of the top media outlets in the world, including USA Today (15 years), ESPN.com (4+ years), Yahoo Sports (4 1/2 years), NBCSports.com (8 years) and others. He has covered virtually every major professional and collegiate sport there is, including the Chicago Bulls' six NBA championships (including heavy focus on Michael Jordan), the Chicago Bears Super Bowl XX-winning season, the Chicago White Sox and Chicago Cubs World Series championships, two of the Chicago Blackhawks' NHL titles, Tiger Woods' PGA Tour debut, as well as many years of beat coverage of the NFL, MLB, NHL and NBA for USA Today. But Jerry's most notable achievement has been covering motorsports, most notably NASCAR, IndyCar, NHRA drag racing and Formula One. He has had a passion for racing since he started going to watch drag races at the old U.S. 30 Dragstrip (otherwise known as "Where the Great Ones Run!") in Hobart, Indiana. Jerry has covered countless NASCAR, IndyCar and NHRA races and championship battles over the years. He's also the author of a book, "Trading Paint: 101 Great NASCAR Debates", published in 2010 (and he's hoping to soon get started on another book). Away from sports, Jerry was a fully sworn part-time police officer for 20 years, enjoys reading and music (especially "hair bands" from the 1980s and 1990s), as well as playing music on his electric keyboard, driving (fast, of course!), spending time with Cyndee his wife of nearly 40 years, the couple's three adult children and three grandchildren (with more to come!), and his three dogs -- including two German Shepherds and an Olde English Bulldog who thinks he's a German Shepherd.. Jerry still gets the same excitement of seeing his byline today as he did when he started in journalism as a 15-year-old high school student. He is looking forward to writing hundreds, if not thousands, of stories in the future for TheSportsRush.com, as well as interacting with readers.

Share this article