Kevin Harvick makes admission on Rodney Childers’ unexpected exit – Motorsport – Sports

Kevin Harvick didn’t hide his surprise when asked about Rodney Childers’ sudden departure from Spire Motorsports.

The longtime crew chief, who spent just nine races with Justin Haley’s No. 7 team, parted ways with the organization at the end of April — an abrupt end to what had been a much-anticipated partnership. “That one kind of caught me off guard,” Harvick admitted on his Harvick Happy Hour podcast. “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.”

Harvick and Childers share a deep history. Over 10 seasons together at Stewart-Haas Racing, the duo built one of the most successful driver-crew chief combinations in modern NASCAR, racking up 37 wins and a Cup championship in 2014. That kind of resume made Childers’ short-lived time at Spire all the more surprising to many — including Harvick.

“I think that, you know, the No. 7 ran – didn’t run great again this weekend,” Harvick continued. “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. He’s got the credibility, and the history of results that go with it.”

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Childers, meanwhile, offered his side of the story during an appearance on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. While the move was unexpected from the outside, he hinted that signs of a breakdown had emerged in recent weeks — not in one major event, but gradually, in the day-to-day workings of the team.

“Going into it, I was super excited about going there,” Childers said. “They had treated me really well. Our announcement last year [of his hiring] was big, and there was a lot of excitement around it. We had a great off-season. I felt like we had so much fun in the offseason… our equipment looked nice, we had a ton of really good guys come into the building, we were making, what I thought, was gains on the cars and just making them look better and nicer and lighter and all those things.”

But when the season began, the momentum didn’t carry over.

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“Really, everything was going fine. You could kind of tell after we got racing a little bit that maybe it wasn’t going the way that we all wanted… It’s not one person, it’s not two people, it’s 200 people, and just figuring that out as we went.”

Childers said the tone changed in the shop, and it became clear both sides weren’t satisfied.

“It just kind of started falling apart a little bit… Overall, it was just one of those things that just wasn’t working, and they’re the type of team that is willing to pull the trigger, and a lot of teams don’t.”

Despite how things ended, Childers had no harsh words: “Like I said, they were super good to me while I was there… But overall, it’s time to think about things and move on.”