Rodney Childers will join JR Motorsports as crew chief of its No. 1 car for the 2026 NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series, currently known as the Xfinity Series, the team announced Wednesday evening.
Driving the No. 1 Chevrolet will be a split of two teammates as current driver Carson Kvapil and Connor Zilisch will share racing responsibilities in what the team deemed a “dual role.” Both are competing in their rookie Xfinity seasons in 2025. Zilisch has earned a series-best nine wins driving the No. 88 Chevrolet and will move full-time to the NASCAR Cup Series in 2026 with Trackhouse Racing. Kvapil currently sits fourth in the Xfinity Playoffs Standings, 16 points above the cutline entering Saturday’s race at Kansas Speedway (4 p.m. ET, The CW, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
MORE: Xfinity Playoffs standings | Kansas schedule
Childers’ move returns him to NASCAR’s national level after parting ways as crew chief of the No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet in the NASCAR Cup Series in April. Childers won the 2014 Cup Series championship as crew chief for Kevin Harvick and the No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing team, kicking off a 11-season tenure at the now-defunct SHR and propelling Childers to 37 of his 40 career wins at the Cup level. In addition to his time at SHR, where he crew-chiefed for Harvick (2014-2023) and Josh Berry (2024), Childers previously spent time as crew chief at Evernham Motorsports and Michael Waltrip Racing before joining Spire for the 2025 season with Justin Haley.
“I‘m so excited to be joining the JRM family,” Childers said in a team release. “To see what (team co-owners) Dale (Earnhardt Jr.), Kelley (Earnhardt Miller) and Mr. H (Rick Hendrick) have built here is quite amazing and their results show for themselves. Dale and Kelley have meant a lot to me for some 30 years and I can‘t wait to be part of this group. Plus, I get to be the lucky guy to lead two amazing young men that have a huge amount of talent and a big future in our sport.”
Andrew Overstreet currently heads the No. 1 team with Kvapil, together producing six top fives and 13 top 10s in 27 races. This year marks Overstreet’s first serving as crew chief with one full-time driver after heading the part-time No. 88 Chevrolet in 2024 and has been with the company since 2020. JRM says Overstreet “will remain a key player” within the organization in 2026.
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