Kevin Harvick ‘caught off guard’ by Rodney Childers, Spire Motorsports parting ways

Kevin Harvick knows Rodney Childers as well as anyone in the NASCAR Cup Series. Even he was taken back when the crew chief and Spire Motorsports parted ways.

All told, Childers’ tenure with Spire, which started with some much hype, serving as crew chief for the No. 7 team and Justin Haley, lasted nine races. Childers said in a statement he would be taking “a little time” to focus on his personal life, butt the 48-year-old isn’t planning for retirement. 

“That one kind of caught me off guard,” Harvick said, regarding Childers via Harvick’s Happy Hour. “I think, as you look at the statements and things that everybody shared throughout the process, it seemed like it was a mutual agreement that it wasn’t working. So, it’ll be interesting to see how everybody moves on.”

As the dust settles on the move, Harvick is hoping Childers ends up somewhere he can make a real difference, believing wherever that is will be luck to have him: “I think that, you know, the No. 7 ran — didn’t run great again this weekend. I think, as you look at Rodney and his credentials, hopefully he winds up somewhere where he’ll make a difference, because I think he can,” Harvick added. “He’s got the credibility, and the history of results that go with it.”

It remains to be seen what’s next for Rodney Childers, but he’ll have Kevin Harvick’s support no matter what. The partnership with Spire Motorsports ended up being a bust, but the future remains bright for the championship-winning crew chief moving forward.

Rodney Childers on Spire Motorsports split: ‘It just kind of started falling apart’

Whenever Rodney Childers decides it’s time to return to NASCAR, he should have plenty of suitors. His resume speaks for itself. Childers is a crew chief with 40 career victories. He won the 2014 Cup Series Championship with Kevin Harvick. Childers wants to be a Hall of Famer, and feels there’s more work to be done. 

“I had a couple [of] opportunities last year to go after the competition director thing, and I was kind of just really stuck on — I feel like, to one day be in the Hall of Fame, I need more wins than 40,” Childers said, via SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. “And, you know, all that kind of stuff means a lot to me. And I want to keep chasing those numbers, and I want to have more poles, and I wanna have more wins and all that.”

Unfortunately for Childers and Spire, the marriage was not for the long haul. Just a few races into their nine-race stint, Childers knew something was off. The chemistry did not improve as the season wore on. Eventually, it reached a point where both sides knew it was time for a breakup, Childers said.

“It finally [came to] a point where they could kind of tell I wasn’t happy, and I could kind of tell that maybe they weren’t happy. And it just started falling apart a little bit,” Childers added. “And I could sense it a little bit. Maybe a couple of weeks before [parting ways], it had kind of [gotten] quiet around. And anytime it gets quiet, you kind of start wondering.”

— On3’s Nick Geddes contributed to this article.