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Rodney Childers & Spire Motorsports Part Ways | Charlie Marlow Show · Kenny Wallace Media

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  All right, what's up, everybody? Charlie Marlow here going live
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  on the Kenny Wallace YouTube channel with some breaking
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  NASCAR news. You see it there in the
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  headline, Rodney Childers Inspire Motorsports parting
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  ways. This is definitely a big
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  surprise. We'll get right to it.
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  We've had Rodney Childers with a statement and also Spire
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  Motorsports, so I'll read them both for you.
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  Of course, Rodney Childers, crew chief of the Justin Haley car,
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  his first year with Spire after being at Stewart Haas Racing for
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  all those years, most recently with Josh Berry, but before that
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  with Kevin Harvick winning a championship.
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  So this is about an hour ago on X Rodney Childers posted on X
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  with a little heart emoji and he made a statement here, so I'll
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  read it for you. Just about four paragraphs.
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  Here it is from Rodney Childers on X.
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  I know this is a shock, but also know that not everything works
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  out perfect all the time. That's how life works.
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  This was just one of those things that just wasn't working
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  for either of us. I appreciate my time at Spire
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  working with JH. Of course, that's Justin Haley
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  and the entire Seven team. We did a lot of good that is yet
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  to be seen and I wish them the best in the future.
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  Also want to thank you to everyone.
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  Also want to say thank you to everyone at Chevrolet, Mr. H,
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  and everyone at Hendrick Motorsports for my time working
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  with them. Again, it was a pleasure.
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  Thank you to NASCAR, the officials and most importantly
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  the fans for your support. For me.
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  I'm going to take a little time focus on the important things
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  like my family and friends and honestly just see what the
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  racing world holds for me next. I know the man above will lead
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  me in a direction that is best for me than a little heart emoji
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  from RC Rodney Childers. You wonder if this is a a full
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  on retirement when he says thank you to NASCAR, the officials and
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  most importantly the fans for your support.
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  But then again, he says for me, I'm going to take a little time,
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  focus on the important things like my family and friends and
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  honestly just see what the racing world holds for me next.
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  So we'll see if he's it's still going to be involved in racing.
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  This is just happening. Just breaking that statement
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  from Rodney Childers was from about an hour ago.
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  OK. And now I'll read you the
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  statement from Spire Motorsports as well, because they also came
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  out just this was about two hours ago.
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  So from the official X account Spire Motorsports, it says a
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  statement from Spire Motorsports co-owner Jeff Dickerson and it
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  reads NASCAR is an ever evolving sport and the path to
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  improvement isn't always comfortable.
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  The break in the Cup Series schedule gave us a chance to
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  evaluate where we are as a program.
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  We took the opportunity to discuss the best paths forward
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  for everyone involved and the team and Rodney agreed that it
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  would be best for us to part ways.
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  Rodney has worked at the highest level of our sport for 20 years
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  and he knows what it takes to win championships.
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  With that in mind, we collectively acknowledged
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  challenges with the team dynamic.
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  Having the right combination of talent is just as important as
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  the results on track. As we move in a new direction,
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  it is not lost on us that Rodney has been an invaluable asset to
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  our organization as he will continue to be for others in
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  this sport. That's the statement from Spire
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  Motorsports co-owner Jeff Dickerson.
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  So there you go. I'm going to come back here and
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  see a lot of comments from you guys. 170 of you watching live.
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  Got some people wondering. Rodney Childers and Josh Berry.
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  That's from Samuel Farish. Yeah.
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  We'll see what happens in the future.
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  We don't have anything right now.
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  As you saw and heard from that statement from Spire, They
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  figured with the break there was no Cup race for Easter, so they
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  had some extra time. You have Talladega coming up.
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  They felt like this was the right time to part ways right
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  there. There's Samuel Farish with his
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  with his Jesus in his avatar. I like that.
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  That's nice. OK, so remember year one, like I
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  said, with Rodney Childers and Justin Haley?
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  Let's check out Justin Haley, how he was running.
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  So Spire Motorsports remember had this whole revamped lineup
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  and investing all these resources.
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  So Justin Haley 23rd in points right now, Justin Haley the
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  seven car 164 points. So he's 23rd.
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  He has one top ten, one DNF, 0 laps LED, average start, 23rd,
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  average finish is 20th. So actually driving a little bit
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  better than his starting position.
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  And then let's check out what the other Spire Motorsports
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  drivers are doing. None of them doing great.
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  Carson Hosovar has obviously made some noise here and there.
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  Reckon some people, some good finishes.
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  He's entertaining. I appreciate what he does.
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  So you have Michael McDowell in 19th, the 71 car Spire as I
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  mentioned, you have Justin Haley in 23rd and you have Carson
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  Hosevar in 25th. So all three of the Spire cars
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  not doing great essentially just right there middle of the pack
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  or or even what the the the third third of drivers when
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  you're talking about Justin Haley in in 23rd place again,
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  Michael McDowell 19th, Justin Haley 23rd, Carson Hosevar 25th.
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  So none of the Spire Motorsports drivers really performing very
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  well here as we're 1/4 of the way through the season.
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  Rodney Childers, of course, crew chief and Kevin Harvick to all
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  those wins in the championship. He's been a crew chief for 20
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  years and worked with Josh Berry last year.
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  He's 48 years old. So let me let me double check
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  that. Rodney Childers obviously a
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  racer before being a crew chief. Yeah, 48 years old.
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  He will turn 49 here. Feels pretty young to retire
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  from racing. We'll see what happens next
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  year. Both Spire and Rodney Childers
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  agreeing it wasn't working with Justin Haley and they're just
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  going to say, hey, let's not even finish out the season.
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  Heck, we're 1/4 of the way through.
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  They're already parting ways. So we'll see what happens for
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  Rodney Childers and his future. Got 188 of you watching.
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  I appreciate that. Charles D saying hello Charlie
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  and all. Hello Charles.
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  Let's see, Happy Carl says. Happy Carl says knew it from day
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  one that Rodney Childers wasn't going to fit at Spire.
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  Now why did you know that? Steven Harvey asking me what
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  happened? For those just joining Rodney
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  Childers, the crew chief of the Justin Haley car #7 parting ways
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  with Spire Motorsports right here early part of the season.
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  They used the extended break with no Cup race for Easter
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  before Talladega to announce the news.
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  If you're just joining us, I read the statements from Rodney
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  Childers and Spire Motorsports as well.
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  You had a statement from Rodney Childers and then you had the
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  statement from Spire Motorsports co-owner Jeff Dickerson.
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  I'll read a few more of your comments.
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  OK, so Russell Coleman says RFK racing, hint, hint.
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  We shall see. Let's see, Chris Wolf says.
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  Someone get Wood Brothers Penske on the horn.
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  It seems like you guys want Rodney Childers going
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  everywhere, all kinds of different places.
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  Jonathan Wooldridge says RCR, get on the phone.
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  Yeah, you got to think. You got to think that Rodney
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  Childers at age 48, about to be 49, probably won't be retiring
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  from NASCAR. We'll see what happens if he's
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  back next year. Crew chiefing somebody else,
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  Let's see. And Charles D says, to be honest
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  I don't know who all is talking about lol.
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  I'm just a Wallace channel fan. Well thank you.
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  This is the Kenny Wallace YouTube channel.
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  I'm Charlie Marlowe. I produce the channel with
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  Kenny. By the way, Herman Schrader just
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  dropped so that's on Dirty MO Media podcast and it's on here.
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  The Kenny Wallace YouTube channel just uploaded at 2
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  Central. So 25 minutes ago, we'll have
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  Ward Burton, Kenny conversation coming up in the next couple
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  days that will hit Dirty MO Media podcast tomorrow morning
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  about 5:00 AM Eastern Time. And then I'll hit YouTube either
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  tomorrow or Friday. We'll see about that.
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  So everybody's saying he's going to RFK.
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  That's Chris Sargent. Has that news already broke?
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  Have we seen that? Let's see, everybody's saying
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  maybe, maybe RFK for Brad K from John Forster.
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  Tell you what, I always say this, I'm not going to go super
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  long on this. I promise you I'm not.
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  Let me just go to X real quick, real quick and see if there's
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  any new updates on this before I let you go.
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  But Rodney Childers Inspire Motorsports parting ways just
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  nine races into the season, both making statements.
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  He's the crew chief for the Justin Haley car.
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  Yeah, Jeff Block writing the article says a shocking move.
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  That's actually from Jordan Bianchi from The Athletic.
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  Let's see, Matt Weaver, our guy who contributes on the channel.
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  I've also independently confirmed the departure of
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  Rodney Childers from Spartan Motorsports.
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  No reason made public yet, but expect an official announcement
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  today at some point. But again, that was a couple
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  hours ago. They have both released
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  statements since then, somebody joking around and there's a
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  picture of Jimmie Johnson and Chad Canalis and it says Kyle
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  Busch and Rodney Childers at 2311 racing next year.
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  That's a joke, obviously, or they're just speculating.
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  That's that's not any breaking news or anything like that.
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  So somebody else basically Jose Pedro saying what's going on
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  with the Spire team, the 17 the last few months fired Corey
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  Lajoie. Justin Haley rejoins the team,
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  the seven car chief to the JGR 54, the seven pit crew to
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  Hendricks 5, Rodney Childers out at Spire.
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  Just a crazy story for Justin Haley and the seven card and
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  Ronnie Childers mutually agreeing to part ways.
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  That's what we're calling it, mutually agreeing.
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  And again, I already I read you the statements.
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  Stephen Harvey says he's going to Hendrick Motorsports.
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  We shall see. There's going to be a lot of
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  teams that want the services of of Rodney and Childers and and
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  about to be 49 years old. I do not think he's going to be
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  retiring anytime soon. I'm sure we'll see him back.
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  Robbie Holcomb says. I'm saying Rodney and cow Bush
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  or Rodney and Chase Elliot. How about that?
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  All right, I'll tell you what I always say I'm not going to go
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  long. This was even longer than I
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  thought it was going to be. But Rodney Childers, 20 year
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  crew chief, of course, won championship and all those races
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  with Kevin Harvick was with Josh Berry, helped his career along,
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  just moved to Spire with Justin Haley and he's already out after
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  just nine races in the 2025 Cup season.
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  Justin Haley running 23rd this season, mutually, mutually
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  agreeing to part ways. And if you want more
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  information, you can go back to the beginning of this video.
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  I do read the statements from Rodney Childers and Jeff
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  Dickerson from Spire Motorsports, but they have now
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  both released statements so we'll see what happens.
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  Breaking news Rodney Childers inspire Motorsports parting
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  ways. Remember Herman Schrader is out
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  now Dirty MO Media podcast Kenny Wallace YouTube channel Ward
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  Burton coming up tomorrow Dirty MO Media Podcast Kenny Wallace
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  YouTube channel Either Thursday or Friday for Ward Burton.
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  Charles D says thank you for the update Charlie.
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  Thank you Charles D you got a great name.
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  I love it. All right guys, signing off.
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  See you later. Have a great rest of your
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  Wednesday.