Charles Denike went to some races at Richmond Raceway while growing up in Chester. That made Saturday night under the lights a homecoming moment for Denike. For the first time, he was the crew chief for a NASCAR Cup Series race at the racetrack. Denike, a Clover Hill High School and University of Virginia graduate, serves as crew chief for Bubba Wallace’s No. 23 for 23XI Racing. Denike got into racing thanks to his neighbors in Chester: Brandon and Franklin Butler. Brandon is a former NASCAR driver who briefly competed in the Nationwide Series and the Craftsman Truck Series. Franklin primarily raced in the NASCAR Busch North Series for a few seasons. “That’s how I got into racing was as an 11-year-old and older, growing up going next door to the race shop,” Denike said.
One of the Butlers’ cars was often at the shop, with another nearby. After going to the shops, Denike later began traveling with the Butlers to the track. The culture Denike grew up around was focused on Late Model stock cars. As a young fan, he would go to Southside Speedway in Chesterfield and plenty of other local tracks — South Boston Speedway, Southampton Motor Speedway and Old Dominion Speedway. He also traveled down to North Carolina. Denike graduated from UVa in 2003 with an engineering degree. He was in the Army ROTC at UVa and commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Army upon graduation. He served as an officer in the Army Corps of Engineers for nine years. “It helps in structure, leadership and organization, high pressure circumstances and situations,” Denike said. “It’s an entirely different type of career path, but life experiences in general help grow into these types of roles, and certainly when you spend time in the military, you get quite a bit of diverse experiences and exposures to things that can help you for many situations you face in a leadership role.” Even when he was in the Army, Denike stayed involved in racing and kept his previous relationships. “When I would be home some, I would go to races when I could,” Denike said. “As I got closer to the end of my time in service in the Army, I considered whether I was going to stay in for the rest of a military career, or (was it) time to get out and pursue a different career.” He opted to try and pursue a career in motorsports, working in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series in 2012. He moved up to GMS Racing before making the jump to Xfinity and Craftsman Truck vehicles. Denike was never a racer, but got into racing because of engineering, which opened the door to him becoming a crew chief. From 2022-24, Denike was the crew chief for the McAnally-Hilgemann No. 19 truck.
He had a slew of success his past two seasons with Christian Eckes driving. Eckes won eight races and had 25 top-fives and 35 top-10s in 46 starts. After last season, Denike took over as Wallace’s crew chief. “Charles has really stepped up to the plate and has done a lot for me and for the team already,” Wallace said. “It’s cool to see him grow and figure out. Coming from Truck level to Cup is no easy step.” Wallace started seventh in the Cook Out 400 and led a race-high 123 laps. However, after Wallace won Stage 2, he had a tire come loose on pit road on Lap 293. He eventually finished 28th, two laps down. Even with the setback, Wallace has already punched his ticket to the playoffs. Denike was atop the pit box when Wallace recorded a breakthrough victory at Indianapolis Motor Speedway last month. “To see him put his best foot forward, and now we’re starting to see what he’s all about these last couple of months, has been really fun to be a part of,” Wallace said of Denike. “I appreciate all the efforts he’s given.”