Mike Shiplett

At the time of his firing, the No. 43 team was in 16th place in the points standings.

Michael Gene Shiplett (born May 17, 1972) is an American NASCAR crew chief who works for Bret Holmes Racing as Bret Holmes's crew chief.

He started his racing career by working in his uncle's racing shop in Ohio, 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 No. 75 truck.

He got another opportunity to be in the same position in 2001 for Ultra Motorsports.

He worked for the team again in 2002 on their No. 7 car driven by Casey Atwood.

Shiplett got his first big break in 2003, when he was hired by Evernham Motorsports to serve as the lead mechanic for the team's No. 19 car driven by Jeremy Mayfield.

In 2006, he was promoted to be the car chief (which Evernham Motorsports referred to as a "car director") of the No. 9 car driven by Kasey Kahne.

Kahne had one of his best seasons with Shiplett and crew chief Kenny Francis in 2006, winning a career-high 6 races en-route to an 8th-place finish in that year's Chase for the Nextel Cup.

Due to the success of the 2006 season, Shiplett was rewarded with his first opportunity as crew chief (which Evernham Motorsports referred to as a "team director").

He crew chiefed their No. 9 car in the Busch Series in 2007, driven by multiple drivers.

The No. 9 Busch Series team won 2 races in 2007, with both wins coming from Kasey Kahne.

He was promoted once again in 2008 to be the crew chief for the No. 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.

Shiplett and Carpentier got into a heated argument after Shiplett blamed Carpentier for failing to qualify, which led to Carpentier's firing.

Carpentier was replaced by Terry Labonte, Mike Wallace, and A. J. Allmendinger.

The No. 10 team finished an abysmal 37th in owners points in 2008.

Despite the poor performance of the No. 10 team during the 2008 season, Shiplett stayed with Gillett Evernham Motorsports as it merged with Petty Enterprises to form Richard Petty Motorsports (RPM).

The No. 10 team became the No. 43 team in 2009, with new driver Reed Sorenson behind the wheel.

After 22 races, the No. 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.

Despite the crew swap, Shiplett's teams improved in 2009, with Allmendinger finishing 24th in points and Sorenson finishing 29th.

Because Shiplett had more success with Allmendinger in 2009 than Sorenson, Shiplett stayed with Allmendinger for 2010 as the No. 44 team became the No. 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 and a pole at Phoenix Raceway.

Shiplett and Allmendinger were retained by Richard Petty Motorsports as they downsized from 4 to 2 teams.

After eight years at Richard Petty Motorsports and its predecessors, Shiplett was fired on July 18, 2011 after the New Hampshire race.

Shiplett was replaced by Greg Erwin for the rest of the 2011 season.

After being fired from Richard Petty Motorsports, Shiplett was hired by Turner Motorsports to be the crew chief of their No. 38 entry driven by longtime Evernham Motorsports/Richard Petty Motorsports driver Kasey Kahne and World of Outlaws driver Brad Sweet for the first 23 races.

Shiplett was also a crew chief in the Truck Series for 1 race at Rockingham Speedway with Kahne, which they won.

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 No. 9 team driven by Marcos Ambrose.

He was the crew chief for one race during the 2013 season for Corey LaJoie's Nationwide Series debut at Homestead-Miami Speedway, where LaJoie finished 34th.

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 No. 42 entry driven by Kyle Larson, Brennan Poole, and Justin Marks.

Shiplett's drivers combined earned 1 win at HomesteadMiami Speedway and finished 15th in the owner's championship.

Shiplett's team improved on their 2015 campaign, finishing 7th in the owner's championship and scoring 3 wins, 2 by Larson and 1 by Marks.

Shiplett and the entire No. 42 team except for Poole and co-owner Harry Scott returned for the 2016 season, with Marks racing in 17 races and Larson in 16.

Shiplett and the No. 42 team returned for the 2017 season, adding new development drivers Alex Bowman and Tyler Reddick.

During the season under Shiplett, Larson earned 3 wins early in the season, Reddick earned his first career Xfinity win at Kentucky Speedway, and Bowman earned his first career Xfinity win at Charlotte Motor Speedway.