Rodney Childers reacts to Spire’s Carson Hocevar winning pole at Texas days after sudden exit

Former Spire Motorsports crew chief Rodney Childers congratulated Carson Hocevar and #77 Chevy crew chief Luke Lambert for securing the pole position at Texas Motor Speedway. Childers has handled his exit from Spire gracefully, with both parties agreeing to end the partnership just nine races into the 2025 season.

At the 1.5-mile oval in Fort Worth, Texas, Hocevar and Spire Motorsports showed impressive speed in both practice and qualifying. After topping the charts in practice, the #77 Chevy driver secured pole position ahead of William Byron. Michael McDowell qualified fifth, marking the first time two Spire cars will start in the top five.

Following Carson Hocevar’s impressive qualifying effort, which earned him his maiden Cup Series pole position, Rodney Childers extended his congratulations to the #77 Spire Motorsports team. He praised Hocevar, crew chief Luke Lambert, and the rest of the Spire team for their accomplishment.

He wrote on X:

"Congrats to @CarsonHocevar @LukeLambertCC and everyone @SpireMotorsport on the pole.."

Rodney Childers' former team, with Justin Haley in the #7 Chevy, could only secure a 15th-place starting position for the Wurth 400 at Texas Motor Speedway. Following Childers’ departure, Competition Director Ryan Sparks has taken over as crew chief for Haley’s team.

Meanwhile, Childers was helping out Kevin Harvick Inc.'s Late Model program at Ace Speedway last Saturday, May 3. He made the trip to victory lane with Landen Lewis winning the Late Model Stock race. Childers and Harvick were a formidable duo in the Cup Series, winning a championship and 37 races together.

On Sunday, May 4, Carson Hocevar will lead the field to the green flag for the first time in his Cup career. Catch the Spire Motorsports driver live in action on FS1 at 3:30 PM ET.

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Carson Hocevar "pumped about" winning the No. 1 pit stall

Polesitter Carson Hocevar (Source: Getty)

Carson Hocevar clinched the pole position at Texas Motor Speedway with a lap time 0.014 seconds quicker than William Byron's effort. Hocevar acknowledged he wasn’t confident about securing pole, as he felt his qualifying run wasn’t perfect.

Hocevar was also excited to use the No.1 pit stall, as he admitted the #77 pit crew has struggled with issues on the pit road. The first pit stall offers an advantage as the driver can accelerate out of his pit box without worrying about the pit lane speed limit.

"Having the cowboy outfit — what better place to be on the pole. I’m normally so hard on myself, and I didn’t think I nailed that lap at all, but I’m super proud of this team," he said via NASCAR.com.

"I’m so proud, because I’ve never had the No. 1 pit stall, and I’ve had a lot of issues with pit road and we’ve had a lot of bad luck. So I finally get the No. 1 pit stall and I’m pumped about that," Hocevar added.

Carson Hocevar and the #77 team have shown flashes of speed in the first quarter of the 2025 season, but haven’t been able to convert the speed into strong results. This weekend’s race gives Hocevar a chance to fight for his first Cup Series win.