The closure of the Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR) in 2024 was unexpected and disheartening. The iconic team shut shop after not finding enough sponsorships to keep their ship afloat. One standout former crew chief at SHR, Rodney Childers, recently spoke up about the mood in the garage at the end of their journey together.

The Cup Series-winning crew chief has moved on with a fresh commitment to Spire Motorsports. However, the nightmare of the SHR shutdown is still a nerve-racking incident for him. While remembering the days when the announcement of the SHR’s shutdown hit all of them, he opened up about the unseen side of the SHR team. 

How did Rodney Childers deal with the setback of the SHR shutdown?

After SHR shut down due to financial issues and struggled with sponsorship, Childers signed a multi-year deal with Spire Motorsports as a crew chief for the No. 7 team and driver Justin Haley in 2025. Reflecting on this, Kelly Crandall asked Rodney Childers about the emotions and apprehension he had likely experienced as he transitioned from SHR to Spire Motorsports after being associated with the former for many years.

To which he replied, on The Racing Writer’s Podcast, “It was definitely different. You know, I think the SHR part of it was hard on everybody, really… Being in there 11 years, and winning so many races with Kevin and doing all those things, just to be able to accept that the place was shutting down was extremely tough. Obviously over 11 years and the hours that you put in on a race team getting to know 300 people or 300 plus people you know they become family they become friends… You know, a lot of tears, there in the second half of the year as people, realized that this was going to end and all that kind of stuff… It was just really hard to accept more than anything.”

In the first year of the Partnership between Kevin Harvick and Rodney Childers, they won the NASCAR Cup Series in 2014. It was also the year when he started his journey with SHR. The veteran worked for almost 10 years with Kevin Harvick until his retirement in the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series. When the 48-year-old Steward-Haas Racing champ raced his final season. Harvick ended his career in 13th position with 6 top fives and 14 top tens, with 157 laps led. The news of the shutdown was indeed disturbing for people involved in it. 

Nearly 2 months after the shocking announcement, in a tweet posted by the Harvick Happy Hour, on July 25th, 2024, Childers also shared about his and other teammates feeling while saying, “I kind of expected to maybe lose one team at SHR. I never expected to lose them all.” When SHR opened all 4 charters for sale, Gene Haas kept one for his Haas Factory team while the others were sold to 23XI Racing, Front Row Motorsports, and Trackhouse Racing.

Childers further added, “I expected to still have a home and to be able to race and to do the things that we’ve done the last 10-and-a-half years. I never expected to lose them all. There were 300 people that were really mad. It took a week to get over that and to kind of refocus.” Going ahead, Kelly Crandall asked him about his experience with the brand new guy and how things are going with the new team and in the new environment at Spire. Childers has noticed the differences for sure but is optimistic about the future.

How is life at Spire Motorsports for Rodney Childers?

Trending

1

Jeff Gordon Demands Answers From NASCAR After Controversial “Popularity Contest” Rule to Favor 1 Cup Series Team

2

Kevin Harvick Rejoices at NASCAR’s Lawsuit Loss As Tony Stewart Earns Millions of Dollars

3

NASCAR Hall of Famer Awaits Retaliation From Kyle Busch After Mocking Rowdy’s Legal Troubles in Mexico

4

Kyle Larson Open to Losing NASCAR Championship for Personal Glory in System Favoring Roger Penske & Co.

5

Kevin Harvick Warns NASCAR Drivers About Brad Keselowski’s Silent Moves

Childers spoke on how comforting it was to be in a new environment while also having some crew members from SHR join him at Spire. He further said, “You know a lot of different people you know throughout the process and I think that side of it has been a really good mixture you have a few SHR guys, you have Travis and all the guys on the 34, a lot of those guys came, so you have some front row guys you have Matt McCall here and some guys from RFK so there’s a ton of ideas right So we all sit in these meetings every week and we like all right well we have to figure out how to mix all this together And everybody’s done a really good job of that so far.”

He added further it’s been a cool mixture, you know, for all of us. And I think you need that, right? I mean, you need different levels of different things. You need different personalities. You know, you need that in a race team. And you want it to be exciting. You want people to push each other. And that’s what we feel like we have that.”

At last, the rays of positive hope remain with the team even after they parted ways previously and later came somewhere together. Their continued connection to NASCAR is an important factor. But, things are the same on everybody’s platter. Where was the 4-time NASCAR Cup Series Championship as he passed the torched.