Rodney Childers to join Spire Motorsports in 2025
MOORESVILLE, N.C. — Rodney Childers will join Spire Motorsports and serve as crew chief for Corey LaJoie in the NASCAR Cup Series in 2025.
The organization made the announcement Tuesday. Childers will move over to the No. 7 team from Stewart-Haas Racing at the end of 2024.
“We are beyond excited to announce Rodney Childers as the crew chief for Corey LaJoie and Spire Motorsports’ No. 7 team beginning in 2025,” said Jeff Dickerson, the co-owner of Spire Motorsports. “Rodney is a hall-of-fame worthy, championship-winning crew chief with 40 wins. He is one of the best in the garage and when a guy like Rodney is available, it would be malpractice if we did anything but our absolute best to bring him into our growing organization.”
Ryan Sparks, the current crew chief for LaJoie, will transition to a full-time competition director role.
“He has been balancing being a crew chief and the competition director the last couple seasons. This move will allow him to focus solely on the competition director role. As we continue to grow, his knowledge and leadership will become even more instrumental to our success,” Dickerson said.
Dickerson praised Ryan Sparks for his leadership. He added that Sparks was the person who pointed Spire Motorsports to Childers.
“He was one of the first guys who talked to me about bringing Rodney in. Lots of guys say they’ll put the team first but there aren’t a lot of guys who follow through. And that speaks to the type of competitor and human Ryan is,” Dickerson said.
Spire Motorsports has landed one of the hottest free agents on the market with getting Childers. Many regard Childers as one of the biggest reasons why Kevin Harvick transformed his career from NASCAR great of his time to a NASCAR Hall of Famer. Childers and Harvick earned 40 wins, five Championship Four appearances and a NASCAR Cup Series championship in 11 seasons together.
Childers stayed with the No. 4 team once Josh Berry took over for Harvick. Many believed Childers was going to go with Berry. However, when Berry signed with Wood Brothers Racing last week, indications pointed to Childers going elsewhere.
According to Spire Motorsports, Childers signed with them Monday night. His wife and twin sons were in attendance for the private signing ceremony.
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Jonathan Fjeld View All
Jonathan Fjeld is the co-owner of the The Racing Experts, LLC. He has been with TRE since 2010.
A Twin Valley, MN, native, Fjeld became a motorsports fan at just three years old (first race was the 2002 Pennsylvania 500). He worked as a contributor and writer for TRE from 2010-18. Since then, he has stepped up and covered 24 NASCAR race weekends and taken on a larger role with TRE. He became the co-owner and managing editor in 2023 and has guided the site to massive growth in that time.
Fjeld has covered a wide array of stories and moments over the years, including Kevin Harvick's final Cup Series season, the first NASCAR national series disqualification in over 50 years, Shane van Gisbergen's stunning win in Chicago and the first Cup Series race at Road America in 66 years – as well as up-and-coming drivers' stories and stories from inside the sport, like the tech it takes for Hendrick Motorsports to remain a top-tier team.
Currently, he resides in Albuquerque, N.M., where he works for KOB 4, an NBC station. He works as a digital producer and does on-air reports. He loves spending time with friends and family, playing and listening to music, exploring new places, being outdoors, reading books and writing among other activities. You can email him at fjeldjonathan@gmail.com