Editor’s note: Today’s Spire Motorsports preview continues NASCAR.com’s countdown of team previews for the 2025 Cup Series season.
SPIRE MOTORSPORTS
Manufacturer: Chevrolet
Engine: Hendrick Motorsports
Driver-crew chief pairings: Justin Haley-Rodney Childers (No. 7); Michael McDowell-Travis Peterson (No. 71); Carson Hocevar-Luke Lambert (No. 77).
Team outlook: The 2025 campaign marks a significant shake-up to the personnel roster for Spire Motorsports, which begins its seventh season of Cup Series operations with plenty of promise. Michael McDowell shifts from his longtime home at Front Row Motorsports, bringing a veteran presence to blend with young talents Justin Haley and Carson Hocevar. The trio of drivers will have crew chiefs with winning pedigrees in their corners, as Rodney Childers and Travis Peterson join the fold with the returning Luke Lambert. Spire has also shored up its competition department with a pair of key additions, adding former crew chief Matt McCall (formerly of RFK Racing) as Director of Vehicle Performance and race engineer Dax Gerringer as Technical Director. The total combination could be the next stage in Spire’s foundation-building efforts, which have included expansion into a new headquarters and the establishment of a winning Craftsman Truck Series team in recent years.
RELATED: Power Rankings preview: Spire trio among Top 25
JUSTIN HALEY, NO. 7 CHEVROLET
Experience: Four full seasons in NASCAR Cup Series
2024 stats: 31st in final Cup Series standings; 0 wins, 0 top fives, 3 top 10s
2025 championship odds (DraftKings): 250-1
Outlook: The season ahead marks a homecoming for Haley, who brought Spire its first — and only, so far — Cup Series victory (Daytona, 2019) in the organization’s early days. The 25-year-old driver got a jump on this year’s effort, shifting from Rick Ware Racing to Spire in a trade for Corey LaJoie in the final seven races of 2024. During that brief stretch, he notched the No. 7 team’s best finish since the Daytona 500 — seventh at Talladega. Spire signed Rodney Childers to a multiyear deal last summer, leaving former No. 7 crew chief Ryan Sparks to focus solely on his role as competition director going forward. Childers is a 40-time winner in NASCAR’s top division, sharing in the 2014 Cup Series championship run with Kevin Harvick in Stewart-Haas Racing’s heyday. His veteran’s poise plus Haley’s knack for maximizing his equipment equals gobs of potential.
MICHAEL McDOWELL, NO. 71 CHEVROLET
Experience: 17 seasons in NASCAR Cup Series (full-time for the last eight seasons)
2024 stats: 23rd in final Cup Series standings; 0 wins, 2 top fives, 7 top 10s
2025 championship odds (DraftKings): 170-1
Outlook: McDowell starts the season with a new team for the first time since 2018, and he brings a wealth of experience to Spire’s driver lineup. The 40-year-old veteran also brings along Travis Peterson, his crew chief for the last two seasons at Front Row Motorsports, keeping their chemistry intact into the approaching campaign. Peterson helped guide McDowell to his most recent Cup Series victory — on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course in 2023 — and they combined to rack up a series-best six pole positions last year. Having crew-chief continuity should be a boon to McDowell, who aims to return to the Cup Series Playoffs after a 2024 miss.
MORE: ‘Thankful’ McDowell on FRM-Spire transition | McDowell: Decision ‘wasn’t easy’
CARSON HOCEVAR, NO. 77 CHEVROLET
Experience: One full season in NASCAR Cup Series
2024 stats: 21st in final Cup Series standings; 0 wins, 1 top five, 6 top 10s
2025 championship odds (DraftKings): 130-1
Outlook: With the team’s turnover setting in, Hocevar suddenly finds himself as the driver with the longest current Spire tenure. The 21-year-old Michigander surged to Sunoco Rookie of the Year honors last season, showing flashes of what made him a big-league prospect with six top-10s — including a stellar third-place day in the postseason at Watkins Glen — and an overall performance that flirted with the top 20 in the final standings. Hocevar also weathered some of the rookie lapses that characterized his rough-edged, over-aggressive Truck Series days. He’ll shoot to rise above those more-publicized missteps and avoid ruffling feathers in his second Cup Series season.
MORE: Improved Hocevar nets top rookie honors
BOLD PREDICTION: McDowell makes the Cup Series Playoffs, and one of his teammates joins him. How? McDowell becomes the first driver in 42 years to win with car No. 71 (Dave Marcis, Richmond 1982), and the hunch says it happens on a road course. The victory continues his alternating odd/even-year pattern of qualifying for the postseason. The fellow Spire driver who comes along for the playoff ride is a toss-up, but superspeedway fate will smile on one of the two.