“You want to feel wanted”: Rodney Childers opens up on his thought process behind Spire Motorsports decision

Spire Motorsports announced on Tuesday morning that crew chief Rodney Childers will join Corey LaJoie and the #7 team in a multi-year deal beginning in 2025. Childers recently shared his reasons for accepting the new role.

Previously, when Rodney Childers's driver, Josh Berry, secured a deal with Wood Brothers Racing, there was speculation that Childers might make the move as well. Josh Berry even mentioned in an interview with SiriusXM NASCAR that he was confident Wood Brothers would seriously consider Childers for the crew chief position.

However, after Rodney Childers received an opportunity to work with Corey LaJoie and Spire Motorsports, he issued a statement via Bob Pockrass explaining his decision to join Spire Motorsports, stating that for him, waiting for two months for the Wood Brothers Racing team to make a decision was a lot.

Also, he had already talked to everybody at Spire and a few different people. According to Rodney Childers, to sit around for two months and wondering if he was going to get something or possibly end up with nothing was not an ideal position to be in.

"And the other side of that is exactly what I said. You want to feel wanted. I want to walk in somewhere and somebody tells me they want to have me right that minute; that I could make a difference. I just don’t want to feel like that I am just another person by any means that is going to take two months to make that decision. I want to be able to go in and make a difference and do that immediately," Childers said (via Bob Pockrass on X).

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"Spire has been on my radar for the past year" - Rodney Childers after signing the multi-year deal

Rodney Childers has been a Cup Series crew chief since 2005 and currently holds the title of the most successful active crew chief with 40 NASCAR Cup Series wins. He has secured victories with three different drivers: Kevin Harvick, Brian Vickers, and David Reutimann. Beyond these wins, Childers has also achieved 34 poles as a crew chief. Expressing his enthusiasm for joining a growing organization like Spire Motorsports, he remarked [via Racer]:

"Spire has been on my radar for the past year. I had quite a few guys from the #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."

Corey LaJoie currently only has one top-10 finish in 20 races this season. His present crew chief, Ryan Sparks, who also serves as the team’s competition director, will transition to focus exclusively on the latter role next year. It will be intriguing to see how LaJoie's career evolves with the experienced Rodney Childers guiding him.