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Rodney Childers Sees Spire Motorsports as a Rebirth of Stewart-Haas Racing’s Early Days

Carl Smith by Carl Smith
January 30, 2025
in Motorsports
Reading Time: 5 mins read
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Rodney Childers Sees Spire Motorsports as a Rebirth of Stewart-Haas Racing’s Early Days

Feb 9, 2019; Daytona Beach, FL, USA; NASCAR Cup Series driver Kevin Harvick (L) and crew chief Rodney Childers (R) during practice for the Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway. Mandatory Credit: Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports

The NASCAR world was left stunned last May when Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR) announced its closure, a once-dominant powerhouse suddenly unraveling under the weight of financial struggles, leadership uncertainty, and on-track woes. For longtime SHR crew chief Rodney Childers, the news hit particularly hard. After a decade of championship-caliber success with Kevin Harvick and the No. 4 team, he found himself—along with 323 SHR employees—scrambling to find a new home.

But if there’s one thing Childers knows, it’s how to build a winning culture from the ground up. And now, with Spire Motorsports, he’s embracing an opportunity that feels like déjà vu—a fresh start with a hungry, ambitious team, reminiscent of SHR’s rise in the early 2010s.


Spire Motorsports: NASCAR’s Next Big Contender?

Founded in 2018, Spire Motorsports was initially seen as an underdog team, but co-owners Jeff Dickerson and T.J. Puchyr have rapidly expanded its presence in both the NASCAR Cup Series and Truck Series. With aggressive moves in the driver market and a commitment to long-term growth, Spire is evolving into a legitimate mid-tier contender with ambitions of joining the sport’s elite.

Childers sees striking parallels between Spire today and the early days of Stewart-Haas Racing, which rose from mediocrity to championship status in a matter of years.

“Feels like SHR at the beginning, not the end, which is a good thing.” – Rodney Childers

That’s a bold statement coming from someone who helped build SHR into a championship-winning team. And with the moves Spire has made for 2025, it’s not just talk.


Spire Motorsports’ Game-Changing Moves for 2025

Childers joins Spire’s No. 7 Chevrolet team, where he will work alongside Justin Haley, a talented driver looking for a breakout season. But the team didn’t stop there. They revamped their entire program, bringing in veteran Michael McDowell to pilot the No. 71 car, giving them a well-balanced mix of youth and experience.

  • Justin Haley (No. 7) – A promising young driver with experience at Kaulig Racing, looking to take the next step.
  • Michael McDowell (No. 71) – A Daytona 500 and Indianapolis Road Course winner, providing leadership and skill.
  • Rodney Childers (Crew Chief, No. 7) – One of NASCAR’s most successful crew chiefs, with 40+ Cup Series wins and a championship.

The combination of strong driver talent and Childers’ strategic expertise could be the catalyst Spire needs to emerge as a serious playoff contender.


Rodney Childers: From SHR Dominance to Spire’s Rebuild

To understand why Childers sees Spire’s potential, it’s important to look at his time at Stewart-Haas Racing.

SHR’s Golden Era (2014–2019)

  • 2014 Cup Series Champion with Kevin Harvick in their first season together.
  • Five Championship 4 appearances in six years.
  • Consistently one of the best teams in NASCAR during that stretch.

However, SHR’s decline in the Next Gen car era was swift and brutal, culminating in Gene Haas and Tony Stewart’s decision to shut down the team in 2024.

Now, at Spire Motorsports, Childers sees an opportunity to replicate the success he built at SHR—but this time, from an even earlier stage.

“Justin and I were talking about it in our office. How fortunate we’ve been and how far we’ve come. It’s been pretty special, honestly, to kinda go through what we’ve been through and all of us trying to find jobs.”

Spire has something SHR lacked in its final years: stability and a clear vision for the future. Instead of scrambling to survive, Spire is making aggressive, forward-thinking moves—the same strategy that made SHR great a decade ago.


Can Childers and Haley Deliver Immediate Success?

While expectations should be tempered, Spire is not entering 2025 just to make up the numbers. With Childers calling the shots, they have a real shot at winning a race and sneaking into the playoffs.

The main challenges:

  1. Building chemistry between Haley and Childers – Finding the right balance between aggression and patience.
  2. Adjusting to Spire’s resources – They’re improving, but still lag behind NASCAR’s biggest teams.
  3. Competing in a stacked field – Hendrick, Penske, Gibbs, and Trackhouse are still the top dogs.

Still, Childers’ track record speaks for itself. If he can turn SHR’s No. 4 team into a perennial title contender, there’s no reason he can’t elevate Spire Motorsports into a legitimate threat.


Final Thoughts: A Second Chance for Childers, a New Beginning for Spire

Rodney Childers didn’t just find a new job at Spire Motorsports—he found a new mission. The pain of SHR’s closure has given way to the excitement of building something new, and if Spire follows the blueprint he helped lay at Stewart-Haas, NASCAR fans might be talking about Spire Motorsports as the next big thing in a few years.

With Justin Haley, Michael McDowell, and a motivated Rodney Childers, 2025 could be the start of Spire Motorsports’ rise to NASCAR prominence. And for Childers, it’s a chance to write another chapter in his storied career—one that could end with another championship someday.

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