Saturday, November 15, 2014

Rodney Childers worried he worked his team so hard they would quit

   As Kevin Harvick crossed the finish line last Sunday at Phoenix International Raceway, a Motor Racing Network reporter - like the network normally does after a race - went to speak with the crew chief, Rodney Childers.

   As Childers began to talk about win, he began to break down and was overcome with emotion and couldn't continue. This week, Childers was asked what he was thinking about at the time that got him so emotional, if he didn't mind sharing. 

   Here is Childers' explanation of what was going through his mind when Harvick won last weekend's race:

   "You know, there's thousands of things that run through your mind at that moment, and basically how you got to where you're at, how many people helped you get there, how many people on this race team at Stewart‑Haas and how many people in the engine shop at Hendrick Motorsports and how many people in that chassis shop put their heart and soul into this stuff every single day and just work countless hours. The guys on this race team and what we went through at the beginning of the year to get it going, there's not too many people that would have went through that, and I really expected people to work a couple months and realize how bad it was and turn around and walk out the door," Childers said.

   "Really nobody ever gave up, and just thinking about all that and how far we've come and how important of a race it is, and for me personally I've wanted to be part of something like that for a long time. I've wanted to race for a championship, and I've never really had that opportunity. You know, to be able to do that was just something that was exciting to me, and the more I thought about it, the worse I got. 

   "You know, it's emotional for everybody, and it's important to everybody. You know, like Kevin said at lunch today, we were actually talking about this same subject, and he says, you can't blame somebody for caring, and really when you see somebody in that situation, they're in that situation because they really care and they give 100 percent. These guys give up a lot. They're away from their families, away from their kids, and it's hard on everybody.  We're all thankful when something like that goes the right way."