Rodney Childers to JR Motorsports in 2026
MOORESVILLE, N.C. — Rodney Childers will join JR Motorsports and serve as crew chief for one of their NASCAR Xfinity Series teams in 2026.
Childers will be the crew chief for JRM’s No. 1 Chevrolet with drivers Connor Zilisch and Carson Kvapil.
Kvapil made the 2025 playoffs in the No. 1 car. If he were to completely scale back to part-time competition next year, he wouldn’t be playoff-eligible as a driver. However, JRM has yet to confirm if that will be the move for Kvapil.
With Zilisch moving up to the NASCAR Cup Series in 2026, Kvapil will get to run a majority of the schedule under the guidance of one of NASCAR’s sharpest minds.
Rodney Childers is most well-known for his 10-year run at Stewart-Haas Racing with Kevin Harvick. Together, they won 37 Cup races and the 2014 championship.
After a year with Josh Berry at SHR, Childers moved to Spire Motorsports in 2025 to work with Justin Haley. However, the relationship came to an abrupt end during the Easter break when Spire announced his departure.
Since then, Childers has been the hottest name on the free agent market. Fans of struggling Cup drivers have thrown around his name, hoping he can turn their fortunes around.
However, the NextGen car isn’t as conducive to the touch of a crew chief like Childers, while the Xfinity car is.
JRM confirmed they will announce the rest of their driver/crew chief lineup at a later date.
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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