Bristol win proves Connor Zilisch, Rodney Childers both still got it

Rodney Childers hadn't won a NASCAR race atop the pit box since Richmond in August 2022, when he was the crew chief for Kevin Harvick. 

The thought of not winning another race never crossed the mind of Childers, who led driver Connor Zilisch to victory in Saturday's NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series race at Bristol. 

"Not a chance in hell," Childers said when asked if he thought he'd never win again. "It's all about winning. It really is."

Childers' new post as the crew chief for the No. 1 JR Motorsports Chevrolet is different than his previous jobs as a crew chief. With Harvick, he became known as one of the best minds in the garage. Childers and Harvick won 37 races and the 2014 Cup Series championship together at Stewart-Haas Racing. 

After Harvick retired at the end of 2023, partnerships with drivers Josh Berry and Justin Haley didn't work out. The latter didn't even last halfway through the 2025 season. But at JRM, working with several different drivers, it's clear that Childers hasn't lost a step. 

As commendable as Zilisch's driving was in the closing laps of Saturday's race to hold off Brent Crews and Kyle Larson, it was Childers' strategy call that put Zilisch in position to win in the first place. Childers decided to leave Zilisch on the racetrack with 27 laps to go as Larson and many others pitted, leaving only Zilisch, Crews and Corey Day out on old tires. 

Zilisch held on to score his 12th O'Reilly Series win and give Childers his first as a crew chief in NASCAR's second-tier series. 

"The best thing about Connor and my mentality with him is, I've known him since he raced go-karts," Childers said of Zilisch. "He was one of the first people that [Kevin Harvick Inc] signed. Every week, I kept up with what he was doing and where he was at."

Zilisch, now 19, is in the midst of his rookie season in the NASCAR Cup Series with Trackhouse Racing. 

"I've continued to think about what he's going through this year," Childers said. "How hard that is moving to the Cup Series, the things that you're going to learn, the things that you're going to go through."

Zilisch won 10 NORAPS races with JRM in 2025, coming up just shy of the series title. He's now run three O'Reilly Series races in 2026 behind the wheel of the No. 1 Chevrolet under Childers' tutelage, with a late run-in with Corey Day at COTA keeping him from having top 10 finishes in all three starts. 

What Bristol win means to Connor Zilisch

Like Childers, Zilisch was going through somewhat of a rough patch before Saturday's win, albeit over a much shorter stretch of time.

The Cup Series rookie came into the 2026 season with the weight of the world on his shoulders, a product of him lighting the world on fire in 2025. But through the first seven races of the 2026 Cup season, he's 33rd in the standings without a top 10 finish. 

Saturday's win seems to have reinvigorated the 19-year-old phenom.

"It's not easy when you go from winning everything on the way up, and you get to the Cup Series and you gotta get used to running 20th or 30th and having bad days every single week," Zilisch said. "It's taken a toll on me. It's always good when you can come down and do this and remind yourself [that] you still got it."

Saturday night proved that, in fact, Zilisch and Childers both "still got it."

Quotes provided by NASCAR Media.