Rodney Childers, the experienced engineer who led Kevin Harvick to the Cup Series championship in 2014, has found a new position following his departure from Spire Motorsports in April. Childers will assume the crew chief role in the Xfinity Series for JR Motorsports, specifically on the No. 1 Chevrolet, which will be shared by Carson Kvapil and Connor Zilisch. This will be the first time Childers serves as a crew chief in the Xfinity Series.
Childers worked with Justin Haley at Spire, but the team and he parted ways when both the driver and the crew chief felt the relationship wasn’t working. Previously, Childers achieved 40 victories and a Cup title with Harvick at Stewart-Haas Racing. Then, he worked with Josh Berry in 2024, the last year of Stewart-Haas Racing. In addition, NASCAR confirmed that it has terminated its relationship with race director Jusan Hamilton, with six races remaining to finish the season. He is no longer listed as a NASCAR employee, where his official title was general manager of competition operations. Hamilton joined NASCAR as an intern in 2012 and returned in 2016, performing various roles. He oversaw NASCAR’s Drive for Diversity program, pit crew development, and NASCAR’s iRacing divisions, in addition to serving as a race director. Hamilton was fundamental in defining both the annual calendar and the calendar for each race weekend. His first event as race director was in 2018 at Pocono Raceway. In 2022, Hamilton became the first Black race director to officiate the Daytona 500.Rodney’s resume and track record speak for themselves. Rodney and I grew up together and have known each other since we were kids. That’s a relationship that has always been close and remains so to this day. We have always been interested in working together in motorsports, and I am grateful that this opportunity came up and we were able to bring him into the JRM family.
Dale Earnhardt Jr., co-owner of JR Motorsports
