Rodney Childers is looking forward to pairing with Justin Haley over at Spire Motorsports next season.
That expected outcome was made official on Friday at Bristol Motor Speedway when it was revealed that Haley would actually trade teams with Corey Lajoie, swapping from the Rick Ware Racing No. 51 immediately starting this weekend at Kansas Speedway.
Haley will work with Ryan Sparks for the final seven weeks of the season but he will soon become the full-time competition director next season after the summer announcement that the 2014 championship winning crew chief would join the team following a decade stint at Stewart-Haas Racing.
Spire is also working towards a Tier One technical agreement with Chevrolet, giving Childers the same level of resources he enjoyed when winning the Cup Series championship with the manufacturer and driver Kevin Harvick.
The 47-year-old expects that the 25-year-old race will rub off some youthful exuberance upon him after a two decade career and counting at the highest level.
“I think it’ll be good,” Childers told Sportsnaut over the weekend at Bristol Motor Speedway. “It’ll be interesting because I’ve never been around him much. With Josh (Berry) I’ve been around him at Late Model races and his short track days.
“But Justin, all I know is all the good things people say about him, 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.
“I think I’m going to have to work harder and be more involved and that’s going to be perfect for me over there.”
Childers has 40 Cup Series wins as a crew chief, all but three of them coming with Harvick from 2014 to 2023. He won twice with David Reutimann at Michael Waltrip Racing in 2009 and 2010 respectively. He also has a win with Brian Vickers at MWR in 2013.
His first crew chief assignment came in 2004 with Scott Riggs at MB2 Motorsports. He then worked at Gillett Evernham Motorsports in 2008 before joining MWR in 2009.
