Charles Denike projects cool and calm, and carries the air of someone who can handle business if things start to go sideways. There’s also a sense that he’s not one to be fazed by someone else’s nonsense.

Denike, then, is an ideal NASCAR crew chief. For some, he’s only now becoming more of a household name – or at least more familiar – in that role for Bubba Wallace as 23XI Racing.

But he was winning races while flying under the radar over the last five years in the Craftsman Truck Series at McAnally-Hilgemann Racing. Most recently, Denike guided Christian Eckes to eight wins between 2022 and 2023, and back-to-back top-five finishes in the championship standings.

On Sunday at Darlington Raceway, the Virginia native’s straightforwardness could be heard on the No. 23 radio. In the second stage, Wallace had a stint where he went from running inside the top five to eighth place. There was a radio communication during which Wallace appeared to say everything was fine.

Denike, on the channel heard by the spotter and not the driver, disagreed. His response was, “We’re not fine if we’re bleeding five spots. So, we’re going to keep pushing.”

His background might have something to do with such personality traits.

“I went into the military after college,” Denike said.

There is no one answer as to why Denike chose that route. On one hand, he says, he saw it as an opportunity to travel. But also, his father served in Vietnam, which Denike found to be a natural inspiration.

An engineer officer in the U.S. Army, some of what Denike did was underwater search and salvage, and later in his career, work in logistics. He served in Haiti after a devastating earthquake and in Afghanistan, earning a Bronze Star during the latter.

So NASCAR is Denike’s second career. It wasn’t until he left the Army after nine years (in 2012) that he wanted to give it a go, and the change wasn’t out of the blue. Denike grew up next to a family who raced short tracks, including against one of his now-bosses, Denny Hamlin.

“I had always stayed involved and I was always interested in it,” Denike said. “I took classes for it in college. I grew up next to a family who raced, and when I was about 11 years old is when we moved next door to this family that raced. So I grew up going to the garage next door and working on cars from a young age. (I) reached a point in my military career and perhaps it could have been if I was in a different career path as well, that you say, alright, I feel like I’m going to regret not pursuing this other venture more than I would staying in my current venture.”

Denike started by working for the Gdovic family in Virginia on their K&N Pro Series team. It took a few years before Denike moved to North Carolina, and soon he was rising through the ranks. GMS Racing, which closed after the 2023 season but was a dominant force in its heyday, hired Denike first as an engineer in 2016 before eventually giving him his first opportunity to be a crew chief in 2020.

Chase Elliott is the driver of record with whom Denike won his first race with as a crew chief at Charlotte Motor Speedway in late May. But there are no photos to show for it due to the COVID restrictions that were in force at the time.

“The celebration was kind of anticlimactic, and we still joke about it regularly,” Denike said. “There was nobody in the stands. We weren’t allowed to go in victory lane. So, Chase drove the truck over into victory lane and got out, ‘Woo,’ and we’re, like, behind the fence line. Behind the chainlink fence. We couldn’t even go in there to celebrate. But it is what it is. I’ll take winning that way than not winning, any time.”

It wasn’t until he won at Bristol Motor Speedway in September with Sam Mayer that Denike was able to celebrate in victory lane. The normal celebration, photos, and beer spray did take place that night.

Denike moved to McAnally’s operation in 2022. He was paired with Eckes a year later.

23XI Racing’s move to hire Denike came as a bit of a surprise when it was announced in October, in part because Denike took a new opportunity at  time when he was having success where he was, and also because 23XI Racing had brought in someone from a different series. Not only that, but someone Wallace was not familiar with.

On Feb 5., a few days after the exhibition event at Bowman Gray Stadium, Hamlin mentioned Denike on his podcast. Or rather, gushed about him.

“At 23XI, we’re most excited about Charles Denike,” Hamlin said. “When he came in for his interview, we had eye contact and he’s like, ‘Do you remember me?’ I was like, ‘Man, you look familiar.’ He’s like, ‘Yeah, our teams got in a fight a couple of times in late models. I was the crew chief for Brandon Butler.’ Which is a guy I used to race late models against. I was like, ‘That’s where I know you!’

“I was signing his praises all weekend (at Bowman Gray). We believe we found a rock star in Charles. I’m glad we found him. Dave Rogers did a great job recruiting him from the Truck Series… I think he’s going to be a game-changer for 23XI and Bubba Wallace. I think those two could really do something special this year.”

Wallace and Denike won their duel qualifying race at Daytona. The team has since earned three top-10 finishes in the first eight races, sits eighth in the championship standings, and has led 98 laps. Something helping their cause is stage points – Wallace has the third-most (78) in the series.

It is the best start to a Cup Series season that Wallace has had. In just looking back to a year ago after eight races, the gains are clear. This time 12 months ago, Wallace was 12th in points with three top-10 finishes, and 23 laps led. The biggest difference is in stage points earned, as Wallace had 42 after eight races in 2024.

The performance is not a knock on any of Wallace’s previous leaders. Denike has simply fit in seamlessly and has mixed his leadership with what was already in place.

“I wouldn’t say ‘surprised’, but certainly satisfied that we’re able to get off to a good start because it’s very challenging to keep the momentum up if you don’t get off to a good start,” Denike said. “This team is highly capable, and that was shown last year, too. There were only three people that were changed for this season: myself, one mechanic, and one pit crew member. So it wasn’t a full overhaul. An overhaul wasn’t necessary – just a bit of fine-tuning.

“There were so many things that this team was doing extremely well before and we didn’t want to change those things, and we just worked on a few small areas that we felt was room for improvement and got refocused for this year.”

Denike has a ‘pressure is a privilege’ mentality, and he’s embracing that as Wallace’s team leader. It goes without saying there are a large number of eyes on Wallace – whether it be to see him succeed or fail – and the criticism is easy to lob when he’s not a consistent contender. Wallace hasn’t won since the 2022 season, and has just once made the postseason (2023).

The future under Denike looks bright, although a long season will have its challenges. But Denike’s target for the No. 23 group is clear.

“(To) return to race winning form and return to the payoffs,” Denike said. “That’s it. Very simple.”

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