Dale Earnhardt Jr. Declares Rodney Childers’ Sacking Has Derailed Justin Haley’s 2025 Season

Dale Earnhardt Jr. pinpointed a key reason for Justin Haley's struggles in the Cup Series this year with Spire Motorsports.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. Declares Rodney Childers’ Sacking Has Derailed Justin Haley’s 2025 Season

Justin Haley (via USA Today), Dale Earnhardt Jr. (via Pro Football Network), and Rodney Childers (via NASCAR)

Justin Haley is considered to be one of the most exciting talents in NASCAR. The 26-year-old has showcased his talent in the Cup Series since making his debut all the way back in 2019. However, the Spire Motorsports driver’s 2025 campaign has been riddled with problems, including the exit of his crew chief Rodney Childers.

Now, Dale Earnhardt Jr. has pinpointed this departure as a potential reason behind Haley’s recent struggles. The 26-year-old was competing for Rick Ware Racing during the 2024 season before making a late switch to Spire. Justin Haley has a long history with Spire Motorsports, having made his debut with the team in 2019 as a part-time driver.

Dale Jr. asserted that Justin Haley was a promising star when he was a free agent in the Cup Series. The NASCAR veteran reckoned that the Chevrolet driver had a decent stint with Rick Ware Racing, which made him a talking point in the garage. This allowed Haley to switch to Spire. Unfortunately, things have only gone wrong for the 26-year-old since then.

Justin Haley was a good free agent in this sport. He drove for Rick Ware and did some pretty interesting, solid, and pretty curious runs in that car. And he has leveraged that into this opportunity at Spire. But since he’s been there, it has been awful. It’s been bad.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. said on Dale Jr. Download.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. highlighted that Rodney Childers left the team as Haley’s crew chief without any real explanation. The 50-year-old understood that neither Childers nor Spire Motorsports will ever reveal the real reason for their mutual exit. However, Dale Jr. declared that this major departure was what derailed Justin Haley’s campaign.

Rodney got out of there, we’ll never really know, Rodney is not going to tell his side of the story. He’s never going to say anything negative about anybody, and the Spire guys aren’t going to say anything bad about Rodney. We’ll never know what happened there, but I think that derailed Haley a little bit.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. explained.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. suspects discrepancy at Spire over Justin Haley’s struggles

Justin Haley has failed to get good results this year, particularly after Childers’ exit. The 26-year-old is at the bottom of the ladder at Spire Motorsports this season, with Carson Hocevar and Michael McDowell getting the better of him. This has led Dale Jr. to suspect whether Haley is getting the right equipment at the team.

Justin Haley Wins at Daytona – 2019
Justin Haley Wins at Daytona – 2019

The NASCAR veteran pointed out that despite the stock nature of the sport, there can be discrepancies in parts. Dale Earnhardt Jr. pointed out that minor differences can pile up to make a big performance gap between cars, suspecting whether this was the case for Justin Haley. Though, he did not claim that this was actually what was happening at Spire.

I don’t think Justin Haley is being told not to go for it, but how much discrepancy, I guess, is it between that 77 and the 7? How similar are the parts and pieces? I mean, the cars are very much the same, everybody gets the same shit. But I’m telling you these top teams, man, they got a favorite part… And the teams will tell you, you stack all that tiny stuff up, and you’ve got a small advantage.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. added.

While Dale Jr.’s theory over different car parts might have some truth to it, since small performance differences can indeed happen, there is no concrete evidence to suggest this is the case. Justin Haley needs to step up his performances from the next weekend in Mexico City. The 26-year-old holds promise considering his talent, but if he fails to improve, then he could soon risk his career at NASCAR’s top tier.

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