DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — By all accounts, Charles Denike is a natural-born chief. He will get to show it now as the brand new crew chief of the No. 23 Toyota for driver Bubba Wallace and 23XI Racing.
The duo already netted their first journey to Victory Lane collectively, with Wallace scoring the victory in Thursday night time’s 60-lap Duel at Daytona to earn a third-place beginning place in Sunday’s Daytona 500 (2:30 p.m. ET, FOX, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
Denike (pronounced de-NYKE as in “hike”) carries his expertise as a former engineer officer in america Military with him to the NASCAR Cup Collection this season for the primary time after 5 full seasons as a crew chief within the Craftsman Truck Collection. In 23 truck races final 12 months with Christian Eckes, Denike led the staff to the 22 high 10s and 15 high fives — together with 12 straight high fives to finish the season, inserting third within the championship race.
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Denike’s precedence now, although, is the highest stage of inventory automobile racing. 23XI Racing co-owner Denny Hamlin believes he’s discovered a hidden gem.
“He simply has some traits if you hear him discuss, if you hear how he’s organized and works that brings in like a Chad Knaus, Chris Gabehart, Cliff Daniels sort of really feel to me,” Hamlin stated Wednesday throughout Daytona 500 Media Day.
Quick comparisons to that elite caliber of crew chiefs could appear untimely. However Hamlin has labored with and competed in opposition to among the finest crew chiefs in NASCAR’s fashionable period.
“I don’t know if it’s his army background or what, however he’s simply so buttoned up,” Hamlin stated of Denike. “I imply, when individuals are speaking within the room, his fingers are going 100 miles an hour, placing all of it all the way down to paper. He was truly one of many lead guys and organizing technique for all of us — and never solely us, however Joe Gibbs Racing as nicely.
“And to belief a man that’s simply coming in, studying Cup automobiles and the way this all works to have such an instrumental function in how we’re all going to do that as Toyotas exhibits that they’ve the boldness in him that clearly we’ve come to seek out.”
Denike, who replaces Bootie Barker atop the No. 23 staff’s pit field, has felt that heat welcome throughout the board, making his transition to 23XI that rather more rewarding.
“It’s actually cool to know that they’ve the assumption in me,” Denike advised NASCAR.com Wednesday morning. “Makes me proud to know that they imagine of their rent as a result of I imagine within the firm that I got here to work for. (I’m) surrounded by unbelievable individuals, phenomenal individuals at each stage, from homeowners to mechanics to decal installers to enterprise places of work. It’s an unimaginable place. And (there’s) in all probability no different place may I are available and have the boldness of being profitable, popping out of the Truck storage and having not the expertise on the Cup facet than this place.
“The way in which that enterprise is finished in another way at 23XI permits new individuals like me to return in and discover our place, to slot in, study on the tempo that we will handle, contribute and are available to the monitor and achieve success with out having to really feel like it’s a must to determine each single element in a matter of three months of offseason.”
Barker stays at Airspeed — 23XI’s state-of-the-art store — and performed a crucial function in Wallace’s rise in efficiency within the three years they spent collectively. Now serving because the staff’s senior car meeting engineer, Barker nonetheless holds a particular place in Wallace’s coronary heart — even within the hours main into the Prepare dinner Out Conflict at Bowman Grey Stadium.
“I texted him earlier than,” Wallace stated, “and I stated, ‘Hey, man, I do know it’s a change of tempo, however I wouldn’t be the place I’m at with out all the assistance and all of the steering that you simply gave. So I admire you.””
Such a big change after three years weighs on Wallace — a lot in order that he was “on the fence about making a change as a result of I used to be so snug with Bootie.”
“However I form of simply took a step again and put all of the belief and religion within the staff to make the required calls and the correct name,” he stated. “And up to now, so good.”
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In the end, Hamlin believes Denike instantly offers an additional sense of accountability that shines by means of the extent of element Denike pours into his superior work.
“I feel it’s displaying, ‘Right here’s how I’m gonna put together to provide the quickest automobile. Are you gonna put together the identical form of solution to be the very best driver that you may be?”” Hamlin stated. “I feel that folks of excessive caliber like that maintain one another accountable.”
Wallace welcomes that — even when he admits Denike’s buttoned-up fashion isn’t fairly what he’s used to.
“He’s very attentive to each little element,” Wallace stated of Denike. “That’s a change of tempo for me. Not saying that Bootie was not, however the way in which me and Bootie operated was, ‘Hey, man, I gave you a quick automobile. Gonna qualify fifteenth, twentieth, and we’ll go kick their ass within the race.’ And we’ll speak about tractors and bourbon for the following two hours.
“We’re all race automobiles. We’re all, ‘It’s essential to do that. It’s essential to try this. And we’ll execute to the very best. And that’ll be it.’ That’s how Charles operates. So a bit change of tempo for me. It’s a bit bit extra structured and buttoned up, which I’m probably not a fan of. However I’m additionally like, ‘Hey, this can be a new 12 months, new me, I assume.””
The subsequent step helps Wallace change into a constant menace on the entrance of the sphere on race day — a course of which has gotten off on the correct foot after a high 5 on the Conflict and win in Thursday’s Duel.
“Big quantity of uncooked expertise and wonderful understanding of what he wants within the automobile and simply situational consciousness of what’s occurring,” Denike stated of Wallace. “(His) race-craft is basically good, and what we imagine proper now the very best focus to maximise our on-track outcomes is simply specializing in your complete effectivity of the weekend. Reduce some distractions, maximize outcomes. Have clear practices. Go qualify a bit higher. When you look again on final season as a complete, there’s a complete lot of fine content material, proper? So how can we chop off the unhealthy weekends and cut back these and produce them as much as the others? After which we’ll work on taking all of it a bit bit higher from there.”
At age 31 and getting into his eighth full season on the Cup stage, Wallace feels extra ready to succeed in that subsequent stage. He has two profession wins (Talladega fall, 2021; Kansas fall, 2023), however he is aware of he and his staff are able to producing on a extra frequent foundation.
“Simply profitable and being extra aggressive,” Wallace stated when requested what’s left to unlock these improved finishes. “Being a reputation that’s being talked about for the efficiency and the success. I really feel like I’ve the mentality to do it. I really feel like I’ve the efficiency to do it. We simply should put these two issues collectively and make it coincide and exist collectively, and also you by no means know the place the outcomes will take you.
“We’ve simply been barely hanging on to the final playoff spot or lacking it by one or two spots, and it’s not acceptable. It’s not acceptable, at first, for me — and that’s crucial person who I bought to please is myself, and now my child Becks — though it’s a very good factor he doesn’t actually know what’s occurring proper now. However yeah, I feel simply having enjoyable with it. That is my eighth 12 months in Cup. I really feel like I belong right here and finished so much. I simply have to do much more personally to be glad.”
The important thing to creating this pairing work is perception in each other. Denike believes in Wallace, and Wallace the identical in Denike. Collectively, their outcomes are already starting to talk for themselves.
“There’s so much left to unwind and get to work on,” Wallace stated, “however I feel Charles suits proper into the model that we’ve created in 23XI, all people at Airspeed, and simply the tradition and the atmosphere we have now there. Up to now, so good.”
