What Rodney Childers’ Move to Spire Motorsports Really Means for NASCAR Teams

NASCAR Cup Series crew chief Rodney Childers during practice for the Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway.

Spire Motorsports have once again hammered down that they mean business on the race track going forward. The Jeff Dickerson co-owned racing outfit announced on Tuesday that they’d signed up iconic crew chief Rodney Childers to helm their No. 7 team beginning in 2025. This comes as a huge missed opportunity for other NASCAR teams that could’ve made strong use of his experience.

Talking about the same on his podcast recently, Dale Earnhardt Jr. underlined the motivation and value that the chief would be adding to Spire Motorsports. He also teased the now-defunct idea of a star combination, “Imagine if he had went to RCR with Kyle Busch. Imagine that pairing. It was a missed opportunity for several teams that could’ve tried to lure Rodney there.”

Childers will be calling shots for Corey LaJoie next year. With 40 Cup Series wins in his pocket he is the most successful crew chief on the active field. He’d become a highly coveted free agent after Stewart-Haas Racing announced that it would be closing down at the end of the season. While one too many teams would’ve been interested in acquiring his services, only one had his attention.

He said about his decision to join Spire Motorsports, “The thing that attracted me to Spire a lot was just they’re investing in the people. And if we’re all going to have to run the same parts, then the people is what’s going to make a difference.” Notably, Spire just recently onboarded Michael McDowell into its 2025 roster. The addition of such marquee names is proving to be a big step towards the future the team aims for.

What rekindled Childers’ interest to continue being a crew chief?

When Kevin Harvick retired at the end of the 2023 Cup Series season, Childers also wanted to follow him. What made him stay was the excitement of working with a young and capable driver like Josh Berry. The time that he has spent with Berry since has made him want more. He said during his Tuesday press conference, “Working with Josh lit a fire to keep going and keep having fun.”

“My kids are still young enough that they’re in school and I have to get them off to college and all those things too. There’s a business side to that, and personal too, but I still want to win races. I’m not satisfied with 40. I want to get to 50 and be right there with some of there ever was.” One certainty is that Childers will not wait until 2025 to start working on that goal.

Post Edited By: Srijan Mandal
Dale Earnhardt Jr. Rodney Childers

About the author

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Gowtham Ramalingam

Gowtham is a NASCAR journalist at The SportsRush. Though his affinity for racing stems from Formula 1, he found himself drawn to NASCAR's unparalleled excitement over the years. As a result he has shared his insights and observations by authoring over 3000 articles on the sport. An avid fiction writer, you can find him lost in imaginary worlds when he is not immersed in racing. He hopes to continue savoring the thrill of every lap and race together with his readers for as long as he can.

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