Rodney Childers talks Josh Berry, Stewart-Haas Racing closure, Spire Motorsports move

Veteran crew chief Rodney Childers is working with a new driver this season, as Kevin Harvick retired following the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series season and Josh Berry took the wheel of the No. 4 car.

How has the transition to working with Berry been for Childers?

“With Josh, it was kind of a natural fit, just being a late model racer. It was extremely easy to carry on conversations and to talk about things, and I think it helped a lot going and racing the late model last fall and kind of getting that started,” Childers told Harvick on the latest edition of “Kevin Harvick’s Happy Hour.” “The rest of it has been a learning curve, for sure. It’s been extremely easy to work with him on certain things. … We’ve kind of gotten off track the last couple weeks and not had good finishes, but we can definitely get it back going. 

“We’re looking forward to going back to Richmond. We were really strong there in the spring, and hopefully maybe [we] win a race before these playoffs start.”

In what’s his first full-time season on the NASCAR circuit, Berry is 22nd in total points (388), with two top-5 finishes and four top-10 finishes. As Childers alluded to, Berry has struggled of late, posting 36th, 35th, 26th and 20th-place finishes over the past four races. He finished 11th in the Toyota Owners 400 at Richmond Raceway in March.

Berry previously made NASCAR appearances with Hendrick Motorsports, Legacy Motor Club and Spire Motorsports. He won a combined five races in the Xfinity Series from 2021-23.

Childers joined Stewart-Haas Racing for the 2014 season as Harvick’s crew chief after stints at MB2 Motorsports, Evernham Racing and Michael Waltrip Racing. The 2014 season was also Harvick’s first season at Stewart-Haas Racing after 13 seasons at Richard Childress Racing. Childers and Harvick worked together for 10 seasons, highlighted by winning the 2014 Cup Series championship (their first season together). 

Of course, Childers’ world was turned upside down in May when Stewart-Haas Racing announced that it was closing up shop after the 2024 season.

Childers detailed his initial reaction to that news.

“I kind of expected to maybe lose one team at SHR. I never expected to lose them all,” Childers said of Stewart-Haas Racing making its four charters available. “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.”

Stewart-Haas Racing employs four drivers at the NASCAR level this season, with most of them already finding new homes for the 2025 season; Berry is going to Wood Brothers Racing; Noah Gragson is going to Front Row Motorsports; Chase Briscoe is off to Joe Gibbs Racing; Ryan Preece has an undetermined future.

As for Childers, he’s off to Spire Motorsports; Childers explained the process that led to him joining the race team.

“They looked across the table and looked me in the eyes and said, ‘We really want you to be here. We know how much of a difference you can make. We want you to help build this thing into something special,’” Childers said. “It kind of reminded me of when we [Childers and Harvick] went to the [No.] 4 car. I was going to have a huge say and honestly just be busy and work my butt off. I would much rather do that. 

“It really just came down to a lot of different scenarios, but I didn’t want to wait around until there wasn’t anything, and I didn’t want to lose everything I’ve worked for, either.”

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