Justin Haley Breaks Silence on Rodney Childers’ Departure from Spire

gettyimages-2028793994 — ATLANTA, GA - FEBRUARY 24: Rodney Childers, crew chief for Josh Berry (#4 Stewart Haas Racing Harrison's Ford) during qualifying for the running of the NASCAR Cup Series Ambetter Health 400 on February 24, 2024, at Atlanta Motor Speedway in Hampton, GA. (Photo by Jeffrey Vest/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

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Spire Motorsports announced this week that it and veteran crew chief Rodney Childers had parted ways effective immediately.

Childers, who guided Kevin Harvick to the 2014 NASCAR Cup Series championship, was in his first year with Spire after spending 11 years with the Stewart-Haas Racing team which left the series at the end of 2024. He has served as a crew chief in the NASCAR Cup Series since 2005 and has 30 victories and nearly a 50 percent top-10 percentage, his cars scoring 299 top 10s in 685 combined starts.

“I know this is a shock, but also know that not everything works out perfect all the time,’’ Childers wrote on social media this week, thanking Spire Motorsports for his time there and wishing them “the best in the future.”

“This was just one of those things that just wasn’t working for either of us.’’

The pairing with Haley at Spire Motorsports, however, was slow to start with only a single top-10 (10th at Homestead-Miami) through the opening nine races. Haley sits 23rd in the championship points standings. He finished 26th and 31st in the championship the previous two seasons. He qualified 37th for Sunday’s race.

“For me, just showing up and trying to do my job to the best of my ability each week and obviously it’s an unexpected change and not something you ever want to do in the middle of the season, but super proud and thankful to be with a race team and owner like Jeff Dickerson who isn’t scared to make some changes for maybe the better,’’ said Haley, who said he only found out about the situation after a day of regularly scheduled meetings last Tuesday.

“It was just a ‘fit’ thing, I think, nothing super wrong that stood out or super left or right. I think at the end of the day we’re in the Cup Series and to compete on a Sunday in the Cup Series everything has to be perfect and if one little thing isn’t perfect, you’re not going to win races. And that’s what we’re trying to do.’’