Rodney Childers
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Nationality | American |
| Born |
June 7, 1976 Mooresville, North Carolina |
| Sport | |
| Country | United States |
| Sport | NASCAR |
| Team | Stewart-Haas Racing |
Rodney Childers (born June 7, 1976) is an American NASCAR Sprint Cup Series crew chief. He is currently employed at Stewart-Haas Racing as the crew chief for the No. 4 Budweiser/Jimmy John's Chevrolet SS, driven by Kevin Harvick. Childers was born in Mooresville, North Carolina.[1]
Before becoming crew chief, Childers himself was a racer, competing in the World Karting Association when he was 12 years old. He won seven championships in the state of South Carolina and five championships at the national level before moving to the Late Model Stock Car division in 1997. From 1999 to 2002 he competed in the NASCAR Slim Jim All Pro Series and the Hooters Pro Cup Series. In 2000, Childers made his Busch Series debut at Myrtle Beach Speedway, driving the #49 Southern Marine Chevrolet Monte Carlo for Jay Robinson Racing.
Childers retired from driving in 2003 to concentrate on becoming a mechanic. He first worked with Penske-Jasper Racing as a mechanic for the #77 Kodak Dodge, before becoming car chief. In June 2005, Childers was named Scott Riggs' crew chief at MB2/MBV Motorsports for the rest of the season, where Riggs two top-fives and four top-10 finishes. He moved with Riggs to Evernham Motorsports at the start of the 2006 season, and stayed with him until October 2007, when he became Elliott Sadler's crew chief at Evernham. He stayed with Sadler until the end of 2008, when he moved to Waltrip Racing.[2]
Childers owns a Shelby Mustang GT500.It was given to him by MWR co-owner Robert Kauffman after he and Reutimann won the Coca-Cola 600. Reutimann also received a Mustang from the co-owner of MWR. Childers repeated the talents they used to win the Coke 600 to win Reutimann an upset Cup victory at Chicago. After Reutimann went winless in 2011, Reutimann was fired from MWR and replaced by Mark Martin, and one of Childers life-long friends Brian Vickers. Rodney Childers and the team was renumbered to 55. Vickers won the #55 team a win at Loudon.
On August 23, 2013, despite the Loudon win; Childers announced that he will be leaving MWR to become Kevin Harvick's crew chief at Stewart-Haas Racing in 2014.[3] Childers was released from his crew chief duties by MWR following the 2013 Irwin Tools Night Race, but remained under contract for the remainder of the season.[4]
References
- ↑ http://www.nascar.com/drivers/dps/dreutima00/cup/
- ↑ http://www.michaelwaltrip.com/2010_site/00_crew_chief.php
- ↑ Pockrass, Bob (2013-08-23). "Crew chief Rodney Childers leaving MWR for Stewart-Haas". Sporting News. Retrieved 2013-08-24.
- ↑ Pockrass, Bob (August 26, 2013). "Rodney Childers released by Michael Waltrip Racing". Sporting News. Retrieved 2013-09-03.
External links
- Rodney Childers driver statistics at Racing Reference
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