Rodney Childers is back in a NASCAR Cup Series garage and he’s looking for a job.
A month after parting ways with Spire Motorsports, only 10 races into the new season and opportunity, Childers has shown up to North Wilkesboro Speedway to network and make clear that he wants to be on a pit box next season.
Childers was hired by Spire Motorsports to work with Justin Halley and the No. 7 team over the off-season but parted ways with the team over the Easter holiday last month. They were 23rd in the standings at the time with just a single top-10.
Both sides say it just wasn’t a fit and it was better to move on.
Since then, he’s laid low, but reemerged at Wilkesboro this weekend and is clearly networking in the pursuit of his next opportunity.
“I have so much respect for this sport, the other crew chiefs, car chiefs, mechanics, reporters and broadcasters,” Childers told The Sporting News on Friday. “There isn’t a part of this sport that I have ever disliked. I miss being on the pit box and leading a group. The thing I miss the most is being the leader — controlling a meeting and all those things. But yeah, the phone has been pretty quiet, and I wish I could say different, but it’s been pretty quiet.”
Childers didn’t go to Texas or Kansas and ultimately thought that was for the best.
“At the same time, I also think it was for the best to let things calm down a little bit,” Childers said. “I’ve been able to spend time and enjoy some things with (wife) Katrina and the boys, spend Mother’s Day with my mom but I needed to get back to the race track.
“I wanted to see this group, the teams and officials, because I’ve had some people reach out but there’s just not a lot out there this time of the year.”
Childers has been posting a lot of pictures to his social media feeds of being on the lake and some have interpreted that as a signal that he’s enjoying his first real down time in 20 years. He says that couldn’t be further from the truth.
“I’ve had people say, ‘oh, you’re enjoying that boat,’ and I’m like ‘no, I have a boat deal and if I don’t post pictures of it every week, I lose the boat,” Childers said. “I’m not enjoying the boat right now. I’ve been working on Late Models.
“So it’s been interesting to learn the different perspectives of what people think I’m doing and how social media deals like that work. People think we’ve spent time at our mountain home and I’m like, ‘no, I’m working hard to figure out what’s next.’
“I want to be here. I’m learning a lot about myself and what means the most to me, but I want to be in the Cup Series.”
Childers also said the way it ended with Spire, combined with having very little to do in the NASCAR garage for the first time since he was in his 20s, left him feeling emotional.
“It’s been interesting. There’s been good days and bad days. Some are tough as hell, where I pull up to a red light with tears in my eyes, and then I come home some days, thankful as hell that I get to spend so much time as home, with my mom, and Katrina.
“I just think that right now I’m in a position to learn a lot over the next couple of months about what life is all about.”
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