TALLADEGA, Ala. — Ryan Sparks’ hiatus from atop the pit box lasted all of nine NASCAR Cup Series races. The Spire Motorsports competition director had shed his crew-chief duties in the offseason to focus more on his primary role, helping to shape an organization that’s grown steadily and aggressively in recent years.
Now, at least in the interim after a personnel shake-up, he’s back in a familiar place.
Justin Haley heads into Talladega Superspeedway with a new-look No. 7 Chevrolet crew behind him for Sunday’s Jack Link’s 500 (3 p.m. ET FOX, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). The team parted ways with veteran crew chief Rodney Childers after the Cup Series’ off weekend, ending their partnership just a quarter of the way through the Cup Series season.
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Haley heads into Sunday’s 500-miler ranked 23rd in the Cup Series points, with one top-10 finish (10th at Homestead-Miami) through the opening nine races. That stretch included at least a promising run to 13th place at Bristol Motor Speedway in the circuit’s most recent event, but besides the performance, the 25-year-old driver said the move was an unexpected change, indicating that chemistry was a prime factor in making the move and saying, “it was a fit thing.”
“Nothing super wrong that stood out,” said Haley, who starts 37th in Sunday’s 39-car field. “I think at the end of the day, we‘re in the Cup Series to compete, and on a Sunday in the Cup Series, everything has to be right. If one little thing isn‘t right, you‘re not going to win races, and that‘s what we‘re trying to do. That‘s what Spire is trying to do. They‘ve been putting some much time, effort and resources, money, ability, put people in the right places to try to win races. I don‘t think they‘re scared to do anything to win a race. …
“We had to onload a lot of people, and through that, there‘s going to be differences, not direct Lego pieces that go together. I‘m thankful for my time with Rodney, who taught us a lot as an organization. He‘s a super-great person. I really enjoyed getting to know him and work with him. At the end of the day, it‘s a business and just trying to be successful on Sundays.”
Haley said he was notified of the shift after the team’s Tuesday morning meetings, indicating that he did not have input in the personnel decision. Childers had arrived at Spire for the 2025 season after signing a multiyear deal last summer, one of several sizable shake-ups in the organization’s evolving driver/crew chief roster. His credentials were and still are impressive, with 40 Cup Series wins and the 2014 championship with Kevin Harvick. Syncing with a new group was another matter.
“You know, there’s never a good time for this, right? But all I know is us at Spire, we don’t waste time,” Sparks told NASCAR.com. “So we saw or felt what we think wasn’t going to work long-term, and it was really just a fit thing. The 7 just came off a great run of Bristol, so it’s more of just a fit and personality deal moving forward for long term, so we’re looking to the future more than anything. Like I said, not really performance-related or nothing directly related to Rodney at all. His time here was well-spent. We appreciate it and everything like that, but we’re just thinking about the future.”
Spire has seemingly been looking forward ever since it started as a fledgling one-car outfit during Haley’s first stint with the team in 2019. The organization grew to a two-car operation in 2021, then expanded to three full-time cars last season. Haley was phased back in full-time after a nine-race audition at the end of 2024, and Spire signed veteran Michael McDowell as another key piece to the driver rotation. Spire’s longest-tenured driver is relative newcomer Carson Hocevar, who earned Sunoco Rookie of the Year honors last season.
Beyond that, Spire has expanded its footprint in the Craftsman Truck Series. When the organization purchased the assets of Kyle Busch Motorsports in the fall of 2023, it was here at Talladega where team co-owner Jeff Dickerson explained the reasoning behind the move, saying he understood the sometimes-healthy skepticism, but adding: “I don‘t know how many more of these deals we have to do before people know we’re for real.”
Sparks referenced that message here this weekend, noting the team’s willingness to take bold measures, but also the seeming urgency to reach Victory Lane.
“We’ve pretty much improved at every race track, but I know for people to take us seriously, we’ve got to win,” Sparks said. “So I mean, that’s all we’re focused on is winning. This is hard. It’s the Cup Series. I mean, we’re racing against the greats and companies that have been in business for over 50 years. So we feel like we’ve hired the right people and put them in the right places to be able to accomplish that quicker than most would expect. It’s not going to be easy, and they’re not going to give it to us. I tell people all the time, they don’t give these things away. You’ve got to want it more than them, you’ve got to work harder than them, so that’s what we’re going to try to do. There’s no guarantees, right, but we’ve just got to stay focused, stay positive, and like I said, we’ve got all the right puzzle pieces in place, and we just … time to rock and roll.”
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The crew-chief swap is just the latest in what’s already been a season of change for the No. 7 group. After the seventh race of the year, Hendrick Motorsports’ No. 5 team swapped in four pit-crew members from Spire’s No. 7 bunch, sending a quartet of over-the-wall personnel to Haley & Co. through their pit-crew development arrangement.
“Our relationship with Hendrick Motorsports, we get our pit crews from those guys, so we trust their process,” Sparks said. “The coaching staff over there is great. They’ve got an awesome facility. We’ll go be a part of pit practice whenever we can, for behind-the-wall support, and they’re a big part of our team on Sundays. So we make sure our car suits their needs on Sundays and they can do their job, but yeah, no complaints there. We love that relationship and hey, we ain’t getting any slouches, I can tell you that. So they’re hungry, and they want it more than ever, so that’s pretty exciting to have a mad pit crew.”
Haley was familiar with Sparks from his first stay with Spire, and the two paired together for the final nine races of 2024 — including the playoff race at Talladega. Their bond, Haley says, has clicked back into place, and Sparks says he’d made efforts to help his driver open up.
“He‘s just fun and bubbly,” Haley says. “He pushes me to be better, and we had good communication at the end of the season. It was fun yesterday being in the garage and hauler with him and cutting it up. At least I have something I know to expect.”
Sparks noted that 27 weekends remain in the Cup Series schedule, including 17 races before the cutoff for the 16-driver playoff field. That’s also where that overriding urgency also stands out.
“There’s one goal, and that’s to put it in the show, so we don’t take it lightly,” Sparks says. “There’s been a lot of movement at Spire and a lot of effort to make these cars faster. I think we’ve seen that a lot on Saturdays (in qualifying), but not carried over to Sundays as much as we would like. So, I’m gonna bring the vibe and we’ re going to make it happen.”
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