Tony Stewart’s Disgraced Employee Returning to Richard Childress Racing for Xfinity Championship Contender

While drivers are responsible for seeing the team to the checkered flag, crew chiefs bear the ultimate responsibility of rolling out a potent race machine under NASCAR’s stipulations and strategizing the team. In short, an efficacious crew chief can take an average team into the limelight, while his strategies can also become a limiting factor for the team, just like when we saw Hendrick Motorsports #9’s poor fuel strategy in Glen.

Now, coming to the talk of the town, a former employee of Tony Stewart and No. 41’s crew chief is making a return to the Xfinity series. After an infamous row in the Cup Series, Stewart’s controversial former employee will monitor the action for RCR in the upcoming Xfinity race.

Tony Stewart and SHR’s former employee take up things for the #21 RCR car

Mike Shiplett is one name that older NASCAR fans are familiar with. From being a humble mechanic in his uncle’s race shop to being a part of NASCAR’s top teams, Shiplett’s journey is unlike any other, with a lot of controversy surrounding it. While the man is an effective crew chief, with whom Cole Custer got his first NASCAR Cup Series win, he was very susceptible to controversy.

In 2019, Tony Stewart and the team announced Shiplett as the new crew chief for the #42 Xfinity car piloted by Custer. Though this combination was super successful, with Custer claiming 7 wins that season, the #42 fell short in the championship race, finishing the race as the runners-up behind Tyler Reddick. Stewart then decided to promote the driver and the crew chief, fielding them in the Cup Series.

However, things did not go according to plan as Tony Stewart’s hopes for the team were slowly washed away after a series of disappointing performances and some infamous stints with the organization, ending in Shiplett’s suspension. NASCAR lifted the 51-year-old controversialist’s suspension in January this year, and he joined Richard Childress Racing as the team’s Xfinity Series competition director, cleaning the slate and bringing out new talents from the division.

With RCR’s sensation Austin Hill making his way into the playoffs, Shiplett has been listed as the crew chief of the #21 Chevy following its original crew chief, Andy Hall, getting suspended (1 race) after the race in Miami.

WATCH THIS STORY: Christopher Bell’s stand against Tony Stewart’s aggressive racing style 

Shiplett and Tony Stewart’s team’s infamous Roval row and his suspension

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Much like the current 2023 season, 2022 was also a downer for Stewart-Haas Racing. While the team got themselves a hefty penalty with NASCAR decking Chase Briscoe and his team with a massive penalty this year, Stewart’s team was on the back foot after an infamous row in Charlotte last season.

Despite making it into the first round of the 2020 Cup Series playoffs, Custer and his #41 team were eliminated. Following the disappointment in 2020, Custer and Shiplett joined hands again in 2021 when the team was caught with loose lug nuts, getting the crew chief a hefty $20,000 penalty and a one-race suspension in the post-race inspection in Las Vegas.

Things then spiraled out of control in 2022 after the organization stepped in to levy disciplinary actions against Custer. This time, citing the member code of conduct and performance obligations of the rule book, NASCAR found out that Custer deliberately slowed down in the last lap of the Bank of America Roval 400, blocking off the competitors and giving an edge to his teammate, Chase Briscoe.

READ MORE: Dale Earnhardt Jr Names Richard Childress’s Successor At RCR As He Lays out the Perfect Blueprint

The sanctioning body struck the hammer clean, handing Custer a whopping $100,000 fine, while the No. 41 team has been docked 50 driver and 50 owner points. Mike Shiplett has not only been fined $100,000 but has been indefinitely suspended from NASCAR competition, which was reinstated in January this year.