Kevin Harvick loses crew chief to one-race suspension for playoff race at Talladega
Rodney Childers will miss the Round of 12 race after a lug nut infraction in the last playoff race in Las Vegas
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1 min read
Thanks to a year-long winless drought and an ongoing feud with Chase Elliott, Kevin Harvick has become one of the most compelling drivers remaining in the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series playoffs. And in order to win this weekend at Talladega Superspeedway and make it past the Round of 12, he's going to have to overcome the absence of his longtime crew chief.
Following last Sunday's South Point 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, NASCAR announced that crew chief Rodney Childers would be issued a one-race suspension after two lug nuts were found to be improperly secured on Harvick's No. 4 car in post-race inspection.
In addition to the suspension, Childers was also fined $20,000 under Sections 10.9.10.4 (Tires and Wheels) of the NASCAR rulebook.
According to NASCAR.com, Stewart-Haas Racing competition director Greg Zipadelli will fill in for Childers as Harvick's crew chief at Talladega, with longtime NASCAR crew chief and 2017 Daytona 500 winner Tony Gibson filling Zipadelli's usual role. Zipadelli has 34 career victories as a Cup crew chief and won two championships with Tony Stewart in 2002 and 2005. He has since become one of Stewart-Haas Racing's top competition executives.
Zipadelli has also served as a fill-in crew chief, taking over the top of the pit box for two races last season with Clint Bowyer while also guiding Chase Briscoe to three Xfinity Series wins in four races last year.
After finishing ninth in the opening race of the Round of 12 at Las Vegas, Harvick enters Talladega 10th in the playoff standings, seven points below the cutoff line to advance to the Round of 8. Harvick finished fourth at Talladega in the spring, and has one career victory at the 2.66-mile superspeedway that came in 2010.
