Rodney Childers has found his new home.
It was announced on Wednesday (Sept. 24) that Childers would take the reins from Andrew Overstreet as crew chief of JR Motorsports’ No. 1 NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series (currently Xfinity Series) car in 2026.
The No. 1 is currently piloted by Carson Kvapil, and it was confirmed in the Childers announcement that he would continue to do so in 2026.
Except unlike this season, it won’t be full-time.
Despite taking the team to the Xfinity playoffs this season, Kvapil will incredulously be demoted to a part-time schedule in the No. 1 — though it is unclear as of this writing if he will fill out his schedule with another team or another car number within JRM.
While it’s also unclear how many races is “part time” for Kvapil (for all we know, he could be competing in just two races or all but two races), what is clear is who he will be sharing the car with in 2026.
And to everyone’s surprise, it’s … Connor Zilisch?
Wait, what? Seriously? The same guy who will be going NASCAR Cup Series racing full time in 2026? The same driver who has won a million Xfinity races this year and really has nothing left to prove in the series? That Connor Zilisch?
Yeah, this move is as mind-boggling as it sounds.
The decision to demote Kvapil to a part-time schedule to allow his current teammate to come back down and run some Xfinity races for funsies is a questionable one, as Kvapil arguably need the seat time more than the already-proven Zilisch, who is the odds-on favorite to win the Xfinity title this year.
In fact, it feels like JRM didn’t even need to make this move. With Zilisch moving up to the Cup Series, the team already needs to find someone to replace him in the No. 88 next season. Then there’s its part-time entry, the No. 9, split between two of Zilisch’s Trackhouse Racing Cup teammates Ross Chastain and Shane van Gisbergen, as well as Connor Mosack at the Charlotte Motor Speedway ROVAL next week.
If Zilisch insists on coming back down to run some Xfinity races, and JRM is going to give him a seat to do so, there are other options they had instead of forcing Kvapil to a part-time schedule as things stand.
JRM just got a huge talent in Childers to sit atop one of its pit boxes, and with the talent Kvapil has — bear in mind, he currently sits seventh in the playoffs right now — the two could (and should) absolutely make some magic together next season.
It’s no disrespect to Overstreet in the slightest. JRM confirmed he would remain with the team in a different capacity in 2026. Overstreet and Kvapil are obviously a good pairing if they’ve been so successful to the point they’ve done everything except find victory lane.
But Childers can take that team to another level. While he had his struggles in his brief stint with Spire Motorsports as Justin Haley’s Cup Series crew chief, Spire is admittedly still a building team, not a proven one like JRM, or like Stewart-Haas Racing (Childers’ former employer) was for that matter. A fresh start for Childers with a proven team could elevate the No. 1 team’s performance — and Kvapil’s, specifically.
There’s also a bit of a short track connection. Childers is still close with his former driver Kevin Harvick, and in the interim since his departure from Spire, he’s been helping Harvick’s late model program in the zMAX CARS Tour, the same series where Kvapil cut his teeth.
Kvapil deserves not only to work with someone who can bring out the best in him, but to do so on a consistent basis. Or at the very least, if JRM is demoting him to part time, why on Earth would they get a Cup driver to split the seat with him? The least they could do would be to get another up-and-comer like Rajah Caruth or even Corey Day to fill out the races Kvapil will sit out.
Zilisch could easily join Chastain and van Gisbergen in the No. 9 next season (assuming both of them want to/are able to run Xfinity races next season), leave the No. 1 for Kvapil and leave the No. 88 for whomever JRM decides is worthy of following in Zilisch’s footsteps.
And for Childers, is it really in his best interest to crew chief a car with multiple drivers? He hasn’t crew chiefed a rotation of drivers since he was with Michael Waltrip Racing’s No. 55 car in 2012 and 2013. It will have been 13 years since he’s had to switch out car setups and the like for other drivers, and as someone who has won a championship with a single driver, it feels like he doesn’t really deserve a multi-driver system either.
Maybe there’s another reason behind Kvapil’s demotion: Perhaps sponsorship is tough to keep up with? But with how supportive Kvapil’s sponsors have been, namely Bass Pro Shops and Clarience, it doesn’t feel like that’s the core issue. Or maybe a deal with Penske has forced Chevrolet’s hand to limit Kvapil’s time in one of its cars. Either way, it just feels wrong.
And on the off-chance that Kvapil somehow, some way wins the Xfinity championship, that’d be kind of a bad look to have already demoted the reigning champion to a part-time schedule because … why not, it seems. It feels a bit premature to demote a guy who is still well in the hunt for a championship this season.
In all, it feels like Kvapil isn’t getting a fair shake of this deal. His teammate is already going full-time Cup racing next season while he isn’t. He needs the seat time more than Zilisch, and there are avenues for Zilisch to return to the Xfinity Series without demoting someone who should be full time down to part time.
And for goodness’ sake, if Kvapil absolutely has to scale back to part time, a Cup driver should not be the guy splitting the seat with him over someone who could be an up-and-comer from the Craftsman Truck Series and/or ARCA Menards Series.
It doesn’t take away from the fact that JRM scored by signing Childers. And he will certainly find success with at least Zilisch, if not Kvapil as well.
It’s just a shame that a driver with the talent that Kvapil has won’t even get to reap the full benefits of a new crew chief.
Anthony Damcott joined Frontstretch in March 2022. Currently, he is an editor and co-authors Fire on Fridays (Fridays); he is also the primary Truck Series reporter/writer and serves as an at-track reporter. He has also assisted with short track content and social media, among other duties he takes/has taken on for the site. In 2025, he became an official member of the National Motorsports Press Association. A proud West Virginia Wesleyan College alum from Akron, Ohio, Anthony is now a grad student. He is a theatre actor and fight coordinator in his free time.
You can keep up with Anthony by following @AnthonyDamcott on X.