For Justin Haley and Spire Motorsports, times are changing quickly.
The Winamac, Indiana-native will be competing with a new crew chief this weekend at Talladega, after it was announced mid-week that Spire Motorsports would be parting ways with championship-winning crew chief Rodney Childers, after just nine races.
Ryan Sparks will serve as the interim crew chief of the No. 7 Chevrolet for the remainder of the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series campaign, returning to the position he held with Corey LaJoie from 2020 to 2024, while also juggling his role as Competition Director.
On Saturday, Haley spoke to members of the media at Talladega Superspeedway about the major change that occurred at Spire Motorsports during the sole off-weekend of the 2025 season.
“It was just a fit thing,” Haley said about the change. “Nothing super wrong that stood out or was super left or right. I think at the end of the day, we’re in the Cup Series to compete. On a Sunday in the Cup Series, everything has to be perfect, and if one little thing is not perfect, you’re not going to win races. And that’s what we’re trying to do, that’s what Spire is trying to do.”
Throughout the first nine events of the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series campaign, Haley and Childers paired to record a single top-10 — at Homestead-Miami Speedway (10th) — and sit 23rd in series point standings.
“I’m thankful for my time with Rodney. I think he taught us a lot as an organization. I think he’s a super great person, I really enjoyed getting to know him and to work with him. Just at the end of the day, it’s a business, and trying to be successful on Sundays.”
Despite the significant changes taking place within his faction at Spire Motorsports, the 25-year-old driver says that he didn’t have any input in the changes that were made, saying he found out after a series of competition meetings on Tuesday.
“I was not [involved], no. I showed up Tuesday, and we had our normal Tuesday 8 AM meeting with the No. 7 team to come here and see how we were going to try to win the race. And then after my meetings on Tuesday, I was notified. Yeah, I mean, it was unexpected. But to be honest with you, I don’t know if anything in this sport surprises me anymore. You just have to deal with adversity and change.”
Haley isn’t unfamiliar with working alongside Ryan Sparks, though. The pairing worked together for the final seven NASCAR Cup Series events of last season, when Haley was traded from Rick Ware Racing to Spire Motorsports.
In those seven events, Haley scored a best finish of seventh at Talladega.
“Hopefully, we can find some consistency here with [Ryan] Sparks. I had a lot of fun working with him at the end of the season. I think Sparks is the plan, for now, and I enjoy working with him.”
Sunday’s Jack Link’s 500 at Talladega Superspeedway will see Haley attempt to collect his second victory in the NASCAR Cup Series, the first of which also came on the superspeedway of Daytona International Speedway in 2019.
One Response
Sounds like Spire took advantage of a very successful and professional Crew Chief and Rodney took the high road. Wouldn’t have expected anything else of him. Deniability is a wonderful thing to have but nine weeks bottom line is Driver Hahey definitely put his two cents in somewhere in those nine weeks. All the best to Rodney in his future endeavours. He’ll land on his feet and will be very successful where ever he lands and whatever he decides to do. An Awesome employee-in-waiting for whatever is lucky enough to get him. Travel safe, Rodney.