“Tomorrow will be my last day” - Rodney Childers makes his heartfelt emotions known amid his final hours at SHR

Stewart-Haas Racing crew chief Rodney Childers has been with the team for over a decade and has had a successful career. The organization declared they would cease operations after the Championship 4 round scheduled for November 10, 2024, at Phoenix Raceway.

SHR announced the shutdown of its operations after the final race of the 2024 season. The team started losing big sponsors after the former NASCAR Cup Series champion Kevin Harvick retired. As the organization started losing further financial support, Tony Stewart decided to shut down operations.

Former NASCAR Cup Series winner Stewart partnered with Gene Haas and started SHR. Stewart won the first Cup Series championship title in 2011 before his retirement. Kevin Harvick won the next title in 2014. The team has competed in over 1000 races in NASCAR and amassed 70 wins in the Cup Series and 29 Xfinity Series.

On November 5, Rodney Childers shared an emotional post on X (formerly Twitter) sharing his thoughts on his last day at SHR. Childers highlighted that he has been working for 11 years with Stewart Haas Racing and joined the team in 2009. He was Harvick's crew chief for the driver's 2014 Cup series win.

The former SHR crew chief said he had cleared out his office and was close to his last day with SHR. He said,

"11 years and over 4000 days of working at SHR. Office has been cleaned out and tomorrow will be my last day in the building.. Still hard to even fathom. So many great memories. But I’m excited for what’s next and blessed to be able to go be with another family of racers.. ❤️"

Rodney Childress is excited to start his career at Spire Motorsports in the upcoming season of the Cup Series.

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Spire Motorsports has high hopes from former SHR crew chief Rodney Childress for the 2025 season

After Stewart-Haas Racing announced the shutdown of its operations in May 2024, crew chief Rodney Childress announced in July 2024 that he would join Spire Motorsports. The organization hired him to lead Corey LaJoie and signed a multi-year contract ahead of the 2025 season.

However, Spire Motorsports released Corey LaJoie and brought back Justin Haley. Now the former SHR crew chief will lead Haley in the 2025 season.

After the end of the 2024 season, Haley will run full-time with the team he ran his first Cup Series race with, winning the 2019 Coke Zero Sugar 400 at the Daytona International Speedway.

Ahead of next year's collaboration with Haley, Childress said:

"All I know is all the good things people say about him [Haley] and just what I’ve seen from being around him in the garage. It’s just clear to me that he’s a good person with good values, and at this point in my career, that’s really important to me.

“There are a lot of people in this garage that believe in his ability, and hopefully I do that justice. And really, at this point in my career, it’s going to be fun for me to go over there because I think it will rejuvenate me. I need to be in an environment that will challenge me like I think this one will."

While Justin Haley has secured his seat for the 2025 season, Corey Lajoie has yet to land a spot for next season.