“He’s gonna be like, ‘Holy Crap!’”: Spire’ Rodney Childers opens up on the “huge undertaking” for presenting Justin Haley the right opportunity

Rodney Childers, the crew chief of Justin Haley’s #7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet, has started preparation for the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season. The veteran crew chief recently spoke about the team’s ambitious efforts to elevate Haley’s performance, giving him the best race car setup for the upcoming season.

Speaking to NASCAR journalist Kelly Crandall, Rodney Childers explained that Justin Haley has never had the proper opportunities to race in a comfortable car before, so Spire Motorsports went to great lengths to completely customize and optimize every aspect of the #7 car’s interior for him, from the seat to the pedals.

Childers also mentioned that Haley will feel a completely different race car when he drives at the Cook Out Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium on February 2, 2025.

Childers said:

“I feel like Justin's gonna do a good job for us and it's been interesting to see all that because Justin's never really had the right opportunities; like, he's never even been fitted into a car the right way, so for us it's been a huge undertaking; like, we've had to have his seats redone at Hendrick; we've had to have his belts moved.”

“We've had to make all new seat rails new headrest new headrest supports new seat mounts new leg boards new floorboards, new pedal faces, new steering column mounts. We have redone everything to make it absolutely perfect for him, and I think when he gets in there at the Clash, he's gonna be like, ‘Holy crap!’ I've never had anything like this before, and that's the first step, right?”

---

2025 NASCAR season marks a new beginning for Rodney Childers at Spire Motorsports

Rodney Childers is a Hall of Fame-worthy crew chief who won a championship in 2014 with NASCAR legend Kevin Harvick. In addition to that, he is the most successful active crew chief with 40 wins in NASCAR’s top-tier series.

Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR) shut down its operations after the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season; the championship-winning crew chief was forced to end his longstanding partnership with SHR.

Afterwards, Rodney Childers joined Spire Motorsports for the 2025 season, where he will be working as crew chief for Justin Haley and the #7 team. His abundant experience in NASCAR will undoubtedly be an advantage to Spire, who will want Justin Haley to have a good start when the season officially begins with the prestigious Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway on February 16th.