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Spire Motorsports Faces Turbulence Ahead of Talladega
The week has been quite tumultuous for the No. 7 Spire Motorsports team as they arrived at Talladega Superspeedway for the tenth round of the 2025 season. The challenges began during the pre-race technical inspection on Friday when the No. 7 Chevrolet failed twice before finally passing on the third attempt. According to NASCAR regulations, this failure means the team forfeits its pit stall selection, which will result in them being assigned the last remaining stall, regardless of their qualifying position.
In addition to the pit stall penalty, car chief Doug Powers has been ejected from the track. In contrast, all other entrants in the Cup Series passed the inspection without complications. Interestingly, Powers is not the team’s original car chief; he stepped in after Robert ‘Cheddar’ Smith left Spire earlier this month to take on car chief responsibilities for Ty Gibbs at Joe Gibbs Racing.
This week has also seen a leadership shift on the pit box. Championship-winning crew chief Rodney Childers and Spire Motorsports mutually agreed to part ways, citing challenges in team dynamics. Following this unexpected split, Ryan Sparks, who previously held the role of crew chief within the team, will now take on both executive and crew chief duties as the organization looks to stabilize moving forward.
Both Powers and Childers joined Spire after the closure of Stewart-Haas Racing, aiming to foster a promising collaboration. However, Haley recently faced another setback when he lost four valuable crew members to Kyle Larson and the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports team earlier this season. Those affected included Jafar Hall (front tire changer), Mike Moss (rear tire changer), Allen Stallings (tire carrier), and Eric Ludwig (jackman).
Currently, Justin Haley finds himself positioned 23rd in the championship standings, hoping that the team can regain its footing and avoid further upheaval in the weeks ahead.
In this article
Key topics discussed:
- NASCAR Cup
- Justin Haley
- Spire Motorsports
Source
www.motorsport.com