The NASCAR silly season has not seen a great deal of movement among the drivers but there has been some movement among the crew chiefs.
Rodney Childers has signed on to chief the JR Motorsports number one car in O’Reilly Auto Parts Series (currently the Xfinity Series).
Currently Carson Kvapil drives the number one for JRM; next season Kvapil share the driving duties with teammate Connor Zilisch who will be moving up to the Cup Series next season to drive for Trackhouse Racing.
Childers was crew chief for the number seven Spire Motorsports car driven by Justin Haley but was let go in April. Childers won the Cup Series championship with driver Kevin Harvick in 2014.
Childers spoke on joining JRM via statement saying, “I’m so excited to be joining the JRM family. 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.”
Kvapil’s current crew chief is Andrew Overstreet whom JRM says will stay on as a key player in the organization.
Earlier this season Trackhouse Racing announced that the driver of the number 99 car Daniel Suarez would not be returning next season. Trackhouse has since announced that JR Motorsports rookie Connor Zilisch would be moving up to take the spot vacated by Suarez.
Trackhouse has announced that Randall Burnett will be leaving Richard Childress Racing and the number eight team to take on the crew chief duties for Connor Zilisch next season.
Burnett won the Xfinity Series championship in 2019 with Tyler Reddick.