For the last time in his career, Stewart-Haas Racing’s pioneer Kevin Harvick lined up on the grid at the Homestead-Miami Speedway. Nine years ago, this team and this ground gave him the coveted Cup Series championship. A constant companion through the peaks and valleys of his triumphant season, Crew Chief Rodney Childers stayed right by his side ever since.

Prior to 4EVER 400, the playoff race dedicated in Harvick’s honor, an emotional Childers revealed the most grueling aspect of that memorable season. 

Kevin Harvick’s crew chief admitted the 2014 Championship came at a heartbreaking cost

Kevin Harvick had been a Cup Series driver for 12 years before he switched to SHR and teamed up with newly joined crew chief Rodney Childers. The talented duo had a lot to prove and set out to win the trophy together for the first time in their careers. It was a season filled with unbridled joy and ended with the checkered flag in Homestead. But the accolades hid a darker underbelly of tireless hours and fractured relationships. 

Reminiscing in the press conference prior to Harvick’s final stretch in Homestead, Childers recounted the 2014 season that changed their lives. He said, “It’s not just me, it’s everybody on the team and it’s wives and children and people that have, you know, just put so much into it. We’re fortunate that we don’t work the hours that we used to work in 2014 but man you just think back on that year I mean sadly enough I ended up with two or three people with divorces by the end of the year and it was because of our race team.

“It was because of what we were doing and all that and that’s sad to think about. But we worked ourselves to death to just try to make sure that we could, you know, win a championship for him in that first year. So you know it’s been a long 10 years, and it’s been a short 10 years at the same time. It feels like it has just flown by like it was just yesterday. But you know we don’t take for granted all those wins and those Brickyard 400s man, that meant everything to me. So we’ve had a lot of special ones, but it’s been a ton of fun and you don’t want to see it end.

“But he [Kevin Harvick] is ready, he’s past ready and yeah, we’re looking forward to these last few.” After everything he has endured for the beloved racer, it’s somehow fitting that Rodney Childres played a crucial role in Harvick’s farewell.

Watch this story: Kevin Harvick’s Legendary Tribute: A Farewell to Remember

Kevin Harvick’s crew chief asked his driver to begin the most significant race of his year

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Kevin Harvick’s renowned crew chief languished on the sidelines before the #4 racer brought him front and center with the 2014 trophy. NASCAR recognized the irreplaceable contribution of Childers in Harvick’s racing journey and ensured he was included in the pre-race festivities to pay tribute to their outgoing star. Childers and his family acted as the grand marshalls of the race and played the key role in initiating Harvick’s last Homestead laps.

Filled with gratitude, Rodney Childers divulged, “I’m still the guy that grew up in Mooresville and had three Cup wins before Kevin Harvick picked me to do this and now I have 40. There’s not many people that will ever walk through this garage that has 40 Cup wins as a crew chief and if it wasn’t for him, it would have never happened. So you know that part is extremely emotional and grateful.”

The stage is set, and the audience breathlessly awaits another glimpse of the racing icon. As Kevin Harvick sits in his car, holding the steering to race across the Homestead finish line one last time, he will 4EVER remember his companion and crew chief saying the revered words, ‘Drivers, start your engines!’

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