The past week has seen quite some activity away from the racing circuit for Team No. 7 Spire Motorsports, and their arrival at Talladega Superspeedway for the tenth race of the 2025 season hasn’t brought much respite.
On Friday’s pre-race technical check, the No. 7 Chevrolet initially did not pass twice but eventually cleared the checks on the third try. As per NASCAR regulations outlined in their rulebook, this means the team forfeits their choice of pit stalls; regardless of their qualifying position, they will be assigned whichever stall remains as the final available option at the end.
Moreover, car chief Doug Powers has been removed from the track. Every other entry in the Cup Series passed through the inspection process smoothly. Interestingly, Powers wasn’t originally part of the team; Robert “Cheddar Smith” departed Spire last month to become the car chief for Ty Gibbs at Joe Gibbs Racing instead.
This week, Haley had to adapt to yet another shift at the pit box since Rodney Childers, the championship-winning crew chief, and the organization decided to go their separate ways because of issues within the team dynamics. After this unexpected separation, Ryan Sparks, who serves as the director of competition and has previous experience as a crew chief for the team, will assume dual responsibilities going ahead.
Smith and Childers both joined a number of people who transitioned to Spire following the closure of Stewart-Haas Racing. Earlier this year, Haley saw four of his crew members move to Kyle Larson’s No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports team as part of an exchange with affiliated squads. The departing members included Jafar Hall (who handled front tires), Mike Moss (responsible for rear tires), Allen Stallings (serving as a tire carrier), and Eric Ludwig (the jackman role).
Haley, ranked 23rd in the current championship standings, is hoping that the team will achieve stability and avoid any more disruptions in the upcoming weeks.
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