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Newsweek
02-05-2025
- Automotive
- Newsweek
Rodney Childers Gives Career Update After Abrupt Spire Motorsports Exit
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Championship-winning NASCAR crew chief Rodney Childers, who worked with Justin Haley and the No.7 team, has broken his silence about his abrupt exit from Spire Motorsports. The team, co-owned by Jeff Dickerson, announced last week that they had parted ways with Childers after just nine races. Dickerson stated at the time: "NASCAR is an ever-evolving sport and the path to improvement isn't always comfortable. "The break in the Cup Series schedule gave us a chance to evaluate where we are as a program. We took the opportunity to discuss the best paths forward for everyone involved and the team and Rodney agreed that it would be best for us to part ways. Rodney Childers, crew chief for the #4 Busch Beer Ford, driven by Kevin Harvick, stands on pit wall during qualifying for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Auto Club 400 at Auto Club Speedway... Rodney Childers, crew chief for the #4 Busch Beer Ford, driven by Kevin Harvick, stands on pit wall during qualifying for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Auto Club 400 at Auto Club Speedway on March 16, 2018 in Fontana, California. More"Rodney has worked at the highest level of our sport for 20 years, and he knows what it takes to win championships. With that in mind, we collectively acknowledged challenges with the team dynamic. "Having the right combination of talent is just as important as the results on track. As we move in a new direction it is not lost on us that Rodney has been an invaluable asset to our organization, as he will continue to be for others in this sport." A statement from Spire Motorsports co-owner, Jeff Dickerson. — Spire Motorsports (@SpireMotorsport) April 23, 2025 Rodney Childers breaks his silence Now, in conversation with SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, Childers has opened up on his unexpected departure. "Going into it, I was super excited about going there," he explained. "They had treated me really well. Our announcement last year [of his hiring] was big, and there was a lot of excitement around it. We had a great off-season. I felt like we had so much fun in the offseason... our equipment looked nice, we had a ton of really good guys come into the building, we were making, what I thought, was gains on the cars and just making them look better and nicer and lighter and all those things. "Really, everything was going fine. You could kind of tell after we got racing a little bit that maybe it wasn't going the way that we all wanted, and a lot of times that's performance-based or that can be how things are going at the shop or how things are going at the racetrack, and what's the communication like, and just the chemistry of all of it. It's not one person, it's not two people, it's 200 people, and just figuring that out as we went." He added: "I think it finally came to a point where they could kind of tell I wasn't happy, and I could tell that maybe they weren't happy. "It just kind of started falling apart a little bit, and I could sense it a little bit maybe a couple of weeks before that. It started getting quiet around there, and anytime it gets quiet, you start wondering. "Overall, it was just one of those things that just wasn't working, and they're the type of team that is willing to pull the trigger, and a lot of teams don't. They're willing to take that chance... It doesn't bother me as badly as I thought it was going to because I didn't really feel it was working either. It just fell apart. "Like I said, they were super good to me while I was there, they're good people, they have a good race team, it was fun to be in the shop with the truck guys, and I'm going to miss a lot of those guys over there. But overall, it's time to think about things and move on." Childers has not revealed what his next career move will be. However, he confirmed that his goal is to remain in the Cup Series. "I want to be a crew chief in the Cup Series, like I've been," Childers concluded. "I want to get past 700 races (on my resume). I want to get to that 50-win mark. I want to be with a good team and a good driver who can win races. I want that to be clear. "I'm looking forward to figuring that out over the next six months and hopefully getting back in Victory Lane."
Miami Herald
22-03-2025
- Automotive
- Miami Herald
Christopher Bell primed for strong run at history in Sin City
Christopher Bell has served emphatic notice that he is the early driver to beat in the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series, and the 30-year-old is primed for a run at an historic fourth consecutive win on a track where he will be looking to exact some revenge. With victories at Atlanta, Circuit of the Americas and Phoenix, the Norman, Okla., native is the first driver to win three Cup races in a row since Kyle Larson did so in 2021. He is also the first driver to win three out of the first four since Kevin Harvick in 2018. Compared to Harvick's early-season thrashing of the field seven years ago, Bell hasn't been quite as dominant. That's not a knock on Bell, but rather an indication of how NASCAR's schedule has changed. The first four races of 2025 featured two superspeedways, a road course and a one-mile oval. The first four races of 2018 featured Daytona being followed by three conventional ovals in a pre-reconfiguration Atlanta, Las Vegas and Phoenix. During his three-race win streak at the start of 2018, Harvick led 433 laps, compared to Bell's 114 over his three-race win streak. During his streak, Harvick scored a combined 149 laps, compared to Bell's 139 over his three-race streak. As Bell prepares to race for a fourth consecutive win at Las Vegas on Sunday, it's worth looking back at Harvick's attempt at a fourth straight win in 2018. Harvick was involved in an early crash at that year's Auto Club 400 and finished 35th. It was a race indicative of the nature of NASCAR: no matter how high you are, you can always be brought down. Bell hopes to avoid a similar fate at Las Vegas. Harvick's fourth win of 2018 came seven races after his third in the AAA 400 at Dover. While Harvick made the Championship 4 for the fourth time in five seasons, he and the rest of the 'Big Three; that included Kyle Busch and Martin Truex Jr. saw their title hopes crushed by Joey Logano. When looking for the best start to a season in Cup Series history, Bill Elliott's 1992 season has to come to mind. After leaving Melling Racing at the conclusion of 1991, Elliott landed with Junior Johnson as the driver of the flagship No. 11 car. While his season would ultimately end in a heartbreaking championship defeat at the hands of journeyman Alan Kulwicki, nobody could touch Elliott over the first five races of 1992. A 27th-place finish at Daytona was disappointing for the two-time Daytona 500 winner, but over the next four weeks, Elliott was far and away the best driver in the field. Wins at Rockingham, Richmond, Atlanta and Darlington solidified him as a championship threat, though he remained behind fellow title contender Davey Allison in the points standings despite his tear. Different points systems and race lengths prohibit a cross-examination between Elliott and Bell's respective streaks, but it should be noted that Elliott led 747 of a possible 1,587 laps during his win streak. Unfortunately for Elliott, his dominance ran out in race six at Bristol, where he finished 20th -- 30 laps down. Following his four-race win streak, he would fail to find victory lane again until the infamous season-finale at Atlanta, where Elliott's fifth win of 1992 failed to deliver him a second Winston Cup title. Bell now shifts his attention to going for a fourth consecutive win, a feat accomplished by the aforementioned Elliott, Harry Gant -- AKA 'Mr. September' for winning four races in a row in September of 1991 -- and Richard Petty, who won 10 in a row in 1967, among others. The bad news for the field? Bell is due for a trip to Victory Lane in Sin City. In his past four starts at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Bell has three top-five finishes and has led 216 laps. Of those 216, 155 of them came in a dominant performance at LVMS in October of 2024, where Bell saw Joey Logano and crew chief Paul Wolfe steal a win that catapulted the No. 22 team to the Championship 4. That race wasn't just a heartbreaking loss on an otherwise dominant day for Bell, but also ended up being the difference in Bell missing the Championship 4. The spring race at Las Vegas hasn't been quite as kind to Bell as its fall counterpart, but with how fast Bell is at the moment, that might not matter. He'll undoubtedly be near the top of the list of race favorites this week and in the weeks following. A glance further down the Cup Series schedule shows tracks where Bell can continue his white-hot start. Should Bell win his fourth consecutive race at Las Vegas, the chance for a fifth at Homestead-Miami glimmers in the Florida sun. Bell has top-five finishes in the past two Homestead races, including a win that lifted him and the No. 20 team to the Championship 4 in 2023. The week after Homestead, the Cup Series travels to Martinsville, where Bell won in the fall of 2022 to advance to what was his first Championship 4. With Darlington and Bristol leading off the month of April, Talladega on April 27 may be Bell's biggest hurdle until the summer. Then again, superspeedway races likely seem less daunting to the No. 20 team following Bell's victory at Atlanta. Whether Bell's streak ends next week or continues at Las Vegas and beyond, his three-race win streak has been an historic and undeniably impressive run that has the opportunity to grow and place him alongside the sport's greats. If you still don't have Christopher Bell on your radar as a championship favorite, it's past time to declare him the biggest threat the Cup Series field as seen since Larson in 2021. Field Level Media 2025 - All Rights Reserved
Reuters
10-03-2025
- Automotive
- Reuters
Christopher Bell primed for strong run at history in Sin City
March 10 - Christopher Bell has served emphatic notice that he is the early driver to beat in the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series, and the 30-year-old is primed for a run at an historic fourth consecutive win on a track where he will be looking to exact some revenge. With victories at Atlanta, Circuit of the Americas and Phoenix, the Norman, Okla., native is the first driver to win three Cup races in a row since Kyle Larson did so in 2021. He is also the first driver to win three out of the first four since Kevin Harvick in 2018. Compared to Harvick's early-season thrashing of the field seven years ago, Bell hasn't been quite as dominant. That's not a knock on Bell, but rather an indication of how NASCAR's schedule has changed. The first four races of 2025 featured two superspeedways, a road course and a one-mile oval. The first four races of 2018 featured Daytona being followed by three conventional ovals in a pre-reconfiguration Atlanta, Las Vegas and Phoenix. During his three-race win streak at the start of 2018, Harvick led 433 laps, compared to Bell's 114 over his three-race win streak. During his streak, Harvick scored a combined 149 laps, compared to Bell's 139 over his three-race streak. As Bell prepares to race for a fourth consecutive win at Las Vegas on Sunday, it's worth looking back at Harvick's attempt at a fourth straight win in 2018. Harvick was involved in an early crash at that year's Auto Club 400 and finished 35th. It was a race indicative of the nature of NASCAR: no matter how high you are, you can always be brought down. Bell hopes to avoid a similar fate at Las Vegas. Harvick's fourth win of 2018 came seven races after his third in the AAA 400 at Dover. While Harvick made the Championship 4 for the fourth time in five seasons, he and the rest of the 'Big Three; that included Kyle Busch and Martin Truex Jr. saw their title hopes crushed by Joey Logano. When looking for the best start to a season in Cup Series history, Bill Elliott's 1992 season has to come to mind. After leaving Melling Racing at the conclusion of 1991, Elliott landed with Junior Johnson as the driver of the flagship No. 11 car. While his season would ultimately end in a heartbreaking championship defeat at the hands of journeyman Alan Kulwicki, nobody could touch Elliott over the first five races of 1992. A 27th-place finish at Daytona was disappointing for the two-time Daytona 500 winner, but over the next four weeks, Elliott was far and away the best driver in the field. Wins at Rockingham, Richmond, Atlanta and Darlington solidified him as a championship threat, though he remained behind fellow title contender Davey Allison in the points standings despite his tear. Different points systems and race lengths prohibit a cross-examination between Elliott and Bell's respective streaks, but it should be noted that Elliott led 747 of a possible 1,587 laps during his win streak. Unfortunately for Elliott, his dominance ran out in race six at Bristol, where he finished 20th -- 30 laps down. Following his four-race win streak, he would fail to find victory lane again until the infamous season-finale at Atlanta, where Elliott's fifth win of 1992 failed to deliver him a second Winston Cup title. Bell now shifts his attention to going for a fourth consecutive win, a feat accomplished by the aforementioned Elliott, Harry Gant -- AKA 'Mr. September' for winning four races in a row in September of 1991 -- and Richard Petty, who won 10 in a row in 1967, among others. The bad news for the field? Bell is due for a trip to Victory Lane in Sin City. In his past four starts at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Bell has three top-five finishes and has led 216 laps. Of those 216, 155 of them came in a dominant performance at LVMS in October of 2024, where Bell saw Joey Logano and crew chief Paul Wolfe steal a win that catapulted the No. 22 team to the Championship 4. That race wasn't just a heartbreaking loss on an otherwise dominant day for Bell, but also ended up being the difference in Bell missing the Championship 4. The spring race at Las Vegas hasn't been quite as kind to Bell as its fall counterpart, but with how fast Bell is at the moment, that might not matter. He'll undoubtedly be near the top of the list of race favorites this week and in the weeks following. A glance further down the Cup Series schedule shows tracks where Bell can continue his white-hot start. Should Bell win his fourth consecutive race at Las Vegas, the chance for a fifth at Homestead-Miami glimmers in the Florida sun. Bell has top-five finishes in the past two Homestead races, including a win that lifted him and the No. 20 team to the Championship 4 in 2023. The week after Homestead, the Cup Series travels to Martinsville, where Bell won in the fall of 2022 to advance to what was his first Championship 4. With Darlington and Bristol leading off the month of April, Talladega on April 27 may be Bell's biggest hurdle until the summer. Then again, superspeedway races likely seem less daunting to the No. 20 team following Bell's victory at Atlanta. Whether Bell's streak ends next week or continues at Las Vegas and beyond, his three-race win streak has been an historic and undeniably impressive run that has the opportunity to grow and place him alongside the sport's greats. If you still don't have Christopher Bell on your radar as a championship favorite, it's past time to declare him the biggest threat the Cup Series field as seen since Larson in 2021.
