MIKE  SHIPLETT   -   ?/?/?

Shiplett was born and raised in Amherst, Ohio.  He started his racing career by working in his uncle's racing shop, going from working on the street stock cars his uncle owned to being given the opportunity to drive them when he was 15. However, a local rule prohibited him from driving a street stock car until he was 16.  He moved up the ladder of racing, from street stocks to late models before going to college and graduating with a degree in diesel technology from the University of Northwestern Ohio in 1992.  Shiplett earned his first job as a mechanic for Liberty Racing in 1995 as they made their transition into the brand–new NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series.  He moved to Butch Mock Motorsports in 1999, becoming the car chief for the #75 truck.  Shiplett got his first big break in 2003, when he was hired by Evernham Motorsports.  He got his first major job in the NASCAR Cup Series when he was promoted to be the team director of the #9 car driven by Kasey Kahne.   Kahne had one of his best seasons with Shiplett in 2007, winning a career high six races in the Xfinity Series.  He was promoted once again in 2008 to be the crew chief for the #10 car driven by Patrick Carpentier.  Although Carpentier won a pole at New Hampshire, the 2008 season was a disaster for Shiplett and Carpentier, with 5 DNQs (Did Not Qualify).  Things came to a head at the fall race at Talladega, where Carpentier failed to qualify for the 

fifth time that season; which led to Carpentier's firing.  Carpentier was replaced by Terry Labonte, Mike Wallace, and A. J. Allmendinger to finish the season.  Despite the poor performance of the #10 team during the 2008 season, Shiplett stayed with Gillett Evernham Motorsports as it merged with Petty Enterprises to form Richard Petty Motorsports.  The #10 team became the #43 team in 2008, with new driver Reed Sorenson behind the wheel.  After 22 races, the #43 and #44 teams switched at Michigan, with Shiplett becoming the new crew chief for A. J. Allmendinger in the 44 for the final 14 races of the season.  Because Shiplett had more success with Allmendinger in 2009 than Sorenson, Shiplett stayed with Allmendinger for 2010 as the #44 team became the #43 team and Richard Petty Motorsports merged with Yates Racing.  Allmendinger and Shiplett improved on their brief 2009 season with a points finish of 19th.  Shiplett and Allmendinger were retained by Richard Petty Motorsports as they downsized from four to two teams.  Shiplett was fired on July 18, 2011 after the New Hampshire race.  At the time of his firing, the #43 team was in 16th place in the points standings.  In 2012, Shiplett was hired by Turner Motorsports to be the crew chief of their #38 ride in the Xfinity Series.  A ride shared by Kasey Kahne and Brad Sweet.  Shiplett returned to Richard Petty Motorsports for the 2013 and 2014 seasons and joined their research and development team along with being the car chief for the #9 team driven by Marcos Ambrose.  Before the 2015 season, Shiplett was given another opportunity to be a crew chief when he was hired by HScott Motorsports with Chip Ganassi to be the crew chief for their #42 entry driven by Kyle Larson, Brennan Poole, and Justin Marks.  Shiplett's drivers combined earned one win at Homestead–Miami Speedway.  Shiplett and the entire #42 team returned in 2016 in which Justin Marks ran 16 races and Kyle Larson 17.  They garnered three wins; two by Larson and one by Marks.  In 2017, the team added drivers Alex Bowman and Tyler Reddick.  Larson grabbed three wins, and Reddick got his first win at Kentucky.  Before the 2018 season, it was announced that Shiplett would return to Chip Ganassi Racing's Xfinity Series team in 2018 with Larson, Marks, Ross Chastain, and John Hunter Nemechek as drivers.  Chastain won one race, while Larson won four times and Nemechek once.  They finished second in the Owners Championship.  After the season, Chip Ganassi Racing's Xfinity program folded and Shiplett was released.  In 2019, Shiplett joined Stewart-Haas Racing to lead the efforts of Cole Custer.  The pair had a successful season, winning seven races, and finishing second in the Championship.  Shiplett and Custer were promoted to the #41 team in the NASCAR Cup Series for the 2020 season.  Custer broke through when he won the 2020 Quaker State 400 at Kentucky Speedway to clinch a playoff berth, giving Custer and Shiplett their first career Cup Series wins as driver and crew chief, respectively.  In 2021 the duo remained paired together.  The entire Stewart-Haas organization struggled.  Only Aric Almirola claimed a win, while the best Custer could produce was two Top 10 finishes.  Mike Shiplett and Cole Custer paired together for 2022; and really were in a position to where they needed to show some improvement.  The season started off rough with a 13th place finish at Bristol being their only finish better than 15th in the first 18 races.  It took until the summer race at Atlanta to claim their first top ten, when they finished ninth.  Four weeks later at the road course at Indianapolis they would finish ninth again.  Their only other top ten finish for the season would come at Bristol when the pair finished eighth.  In all honesty; Custer did show improvement the last 12 races of the season.  They had six finished inside the top 15; and nine finishes inside the top 22.  This was needed if Custer was to have any shot to keep his ride in Cup.  As it turned out, Custer was demoted back to the Xfinity Series for 2023; with Ryan Preece called upon to replace Custer, and wheel the #41 car at the Cup level.  Shiplett left SHR at the end of 2022, and took a job at RCR as Director of Competition over the Xfinity Series.

 

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