Rodney Childers has signed a multi-year contract to join Spire Motorsports starting next season.
Veteran crew chief Rodney Childers is set to join Spire Motorsports for 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season after signing a multi-year contract to lead Spire’s No. 7 Chevrolet team and driver Corey LaJoie.
The deal was finalized at the team shop in Mooresville, North Carolina where Childers enjoyed a private ceremony with wife wife Katrina and twin sons Brody and Gavin in attendance.
Childers, who also happens to be the winningest active crew chief in the Cup Series is currently crew chief for Josh Berry’s No. 4 Ford team at Stewart-Haas Racing.
However, SHR announced it will discontinue its four-car operation at the end of the current campaign leaving the 48-year-old former driver with no home for 2025 as Berry was signed by the Wood Brothers last week to take over their No. 21 Ford starting next season.
Meanwhile, Ryan Sparks, who currently holds the dual roles of crew chief for LaJoie and competition director for Spire Motorsports, will continue in the latter capacity next season.
“We are beyond excited to announce Rodney Childers as the crew chief for Corey LaJoie and Spire Motorsports’ No. 7 team beginning in 2025,” said Spire Motorsports co-owner Jeff Dickerson.
“There are decisions that professional racing teams make daily that take courage, require deep thought, and have some element of rolling the dice. To be clear, this wasn’t one of them.
“Rodney is a hall-of-fame-worthy, championship-winning crew chief with 40 wins. He is one of the best in the garage and when a guy like Rodney is available, it would be malpractice if we did anything but our absolute best to bring him into our growing organization.
“He will make us better the moment he walks into our shop, and we look forward to his contributions to our collective success.”
Childers joined the Cup Series in 2005 and has led teams to more victories than any other current NASCAR Cup series crew chief. He has lead three drivers to race victories – Kevin Harvick, Brian Vickers, and David Reutimann with the former securing the 2014 Cup championship in their first season paired together at SHR.
“I think the biggest thing is seeing how Spire Motorsports has grown over the last couple of years,” said Childers. “They are investing in people, and that’s what makes a difference these days.
“We all buy the same chassis, bodies and parts. What makes a difference is the people. Spire continues to invest in the people within the team and they seek out good people to add depth to an already strong group.
“Corey is a veteran of the sport and I think we have a tremendous opportunity in front of us.
“Spire has been on my radar for the past year. I had quite a few guys from the No. 4 team go over there and they keep telling me how much they enjoy it, what the culture is like and how well everybody gets along.
“That started it from my side. The rest was the way Jeff (Dickerson) and Doug Duchardt (Spire Motorsports President) handled my situation. They told me how much I was wanted and how I could make a difference.
“For anybody in this world, all you want is to feel wanted and loved, and I felt that through them. I also see it as a place that can be good for my family, long term.
“My kids are three years from graduating high school. With the truck teams there, it’s somewhere they can grow, learn and possibly work one day.”
Meanwhile, LaJoie goes into his ninth full season as a Cup Series driver next year. He has nine top-10 finishes in 256 starts and is still looking for his first career victory.
