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Spire Motorsports names replacement for Rodney Childers on Justin Haley team

JHby:Jonathan Howard•04/24/25•

Jondean25

Rodney Childers Spire Motorsports replacement
Mandatory Credit: Jim Dedmon-Imagn Images

Ahead of the NASCAR weekend at Talladega, Spire Motorsports has named the replacement for Rodney Childers on the No. 7 team. In a shocking move, Spire and Childers parted ways this week, with the Cup Series championship-winning crew chief unsure of his future in the sport.

Spire Motorsports has made a lot of moves in the last two years. A ton of money has been pumped into that organization with Gainbridge, Group 1001, and the TWG Motorsports group. With that cash injection has come a number of impressive and a few questionable decisions.

Bringing Rodney Childers on to crew chief for Justin Haley was a great idea – on paper. Childers has a fantastic record in NASCAR, but has struggled as a crew chief with the Next Gen car. Haley is a driver who allegedly has a Hendrick Motorsports contract and is seen as a future star if he can develop his talents.

For one reason or another, the partnership wasn’t working. Today, Spire Motorsports announced Ryan Sparks will be crew chief for the No. 7 team for the rest of the season.

“As a follow up to yesterday’s news, Ryan Sparks will return to the pit box as crew chief for Justin Haley and the No. 7 team for the duration of the 2025 season. Sparks will once again serve in a dual role as Crew Chief and Director of Competition,” the team said in a social media post today.

Nine races into the season, and already a crew chief change. Not ideal for any Cup Series team. Justin Haley is 23rd in points with one top-10 finish this season, P10 at Homestead.

Haley is only 10 points behind his teammate, Michael McDowell, and he leads Carson Hocevar by 7 points. Spire and Childers just didn’t mix.

Rodney Childers to take time on next steps

When the news came out yesterday, it was a shock. During his career, Rodney Childers has been seen as a top-tier crew chief. Still, you can’t deny that there has been a fall-off with the Next Gen car. It doesn’t allow him to do what he used to do with his setups and things.

So, there has been an adjustment. Still, I can’t think that this would be the best move for Spire Motorsports. Childers, if he wants to, could get another crew chief gig. There are plenty of teams that have likely already reached out to him about his future.

Then again, let’s not act like the writing wasn’t on the wall. Justin Haley’s team had their entire pit crew swapped for Kyle Larson’s after the No. 5 team had troubles on pit road. After that, they lost the car chief to Joe Gibbs Racing and Ty Gibbs’ team at the beginning of April.

This partnership felt like a good one. Now we are going to have to keep a close eye on the No. 7 team and see if Ryan Sparks can improve the performance of that car or not.