Rodney Childers was surprisingly one of many predominant headlines in NASCAR this week when it was introduced that he and Spire Motorsports had mutually agreed to half methods. The veteran crew chief had labored with Justin Haley via the primary 9 races of the 2025 Cup Sequence marketing campaign.
On Saturday whereas visiting with reporters at Talladega Superspeedway, the No. 7 driver admitted it was an “sudden change and never one thing you ever need to do in the midst of a season.”
Throughout Cup Sequence qualifying on Amazon Prime, Childers’ identify unexpectedly got here up however in a special context when speaking about how automobiles from the identical group can have dramatically completely different occasions.
Rodney Childers throughout apply for the Daytona 500.Jasen Vinlove-Imagn Photographs
“You get to see how your group is doing when it comes time for qualifying at a superspeedway,” mentioned Kevin Harvick, who labored for years with Childers whereas driving at Stewart-Haas Racing, together with his championship-winning season in 2014.
“They each ignored of the identical store,” Clint Bowyer mentioned, speaking concerning the disparity in occasions between eventual pole sitter Zane Smith and his Entrance Row Motorsports teammate Noah Gragson, who certified twenty seventh.
“Properly that is how you already know in case your store and groups are speaking and dealing collectively and dotting the i’s and crossing the t’s like they should,” Harvick steered. “As a result of these automobiles ought to qualify proper collectively in case you’re doing the whole lot accurately.”
Throughout Saturday’s Cup Sequence qualifying at @talladega, @RodneyChilders4 got here up within the dialog and never for the stunning information of his departure from @SpireMotorsport this week however his unwillingness to share data with teammates whereas at Stewart-Haas Racing. pic.twitter.com/2LPh5335F2
— Kyle Dalton (@kdsportswriter) April 27, 2025
“Properly now you labored for a four-car staff,” Mike Pleasure mentioned to Harvick, referring to SHR. “Each of you had been on a four-car staff the place you had crew chiefs that didn’t get pleasure from sharing a variety of that data with one another.”
“Properly, there was three of us that all the time questioned the place all that pace was,” Bowyer mentioned with fun, referring to the then-No. 4 staff.
“That is my level,” the veteran broadcaster confirmed. “You understand, Rodney. Boy, he…”
“Thanks, Mike,” Bowyer replied.
“Yeah. I’d let you know that the superspeedways basically are an incredible high quality management piece of the puzzle for these groups,” Harvick famous.
Childers will not be on the pit field Sunday at Talladega. However Pleasure, Bowyer and Harvick can be within the Fox broadcast sales space calling the race. Protection begins at 3 p.m. ET.
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