The No.23 team’s journey in NASCAR has been marked by incredible highs and frustrating lows. Bubba Wallace joined 23XI Racing in 2021 from Richard Petty Motorsports and hit the ground running. He notched up his first Cup Series win at Talladega in 2021 and followed that up with a win in Kansas in 2022. The mastermind behind his rise to success? Crew Chief Bootie Barker.
However, entering 2025, everything has changed. Barker is no longer atop the pit box for Wallace, as Charles Denike has taken over the reins. But if things were going so well with Bubba and Barker, why did it have to end? Well, there’s a reason we fast-forwarded to 2025. Those two years in between were filled with heartbreaking losses, frustrating finishes, and, most importantly, no wins. After his latest triumph in the Daytona Duel race, Wallace opened up on the crew chief shuffle.
A lack of wins spelled the end of the relationship
Bubba Wallace and crew chief Bootie Barker were together from 2021 to 2024, and they had some high points. After successes in 2021 and 2022, it was time for them to enter the playoffs, and in 2023, they did just that. Despite Wallace not securing a win, he made the playoffs on points and made it to the round of 12, but not past that. So far it seems like Wallace is steadily improving, right? Well, after another winless 2024 and this time missing the playoffs entirely, Wallace’s crew chief was changed and fans speculated that maybe a rift between the two caused their lack of wins. However, Bubba cleared it all up.
In a conversation with SiriusXM NASCAR, Wallace said, “In ’24, we were like, okay. What’s after this peak here? And it kinda just plateaued. And it wasn’t from a lack of effort. It wasn’t because we had a fallout. It just things didn’t line up the way that we thought they would, and it led to a change.” In 2024, things got even tougher. Even though Bubba started strong, he struggled mid-season. Wallace had just one top-10 finish for the entire month of June and that was a quintuple overtime race at Nashville. To make matters worse, a big penalty for race manipulation at Martinsville left a stain on the season. He ended the season 18th in the standings, and his crew chief was promptly replaced.
Bubba Wallace continued, “And, so, obviously, all of us hopes and even Bootie hopes that this was the right change indeed to keep that climb going. Because I don’t feel like I’ve reached my peak yet, nowhere near it. But for some reason, whatever that reason was, we kinda stalled out. You know, I look at the last two seasons, very, very similar. The stats are very, very similar…We were the last car in the playoffs. We were first or second car out of the playoffs this past year. Right? You know? It’s it was very similar. And so it’s like, man. Okay. what’s gonna change?”
Wallace posted his best year statistically in 2024, but with no wins to show for it, the mood in the garage was not at its peak. Wallace put up more top-5 and top-10 finishes in 2024 than he ever had in his career and a career-best average finish of 15.3. But in NASCAR, winning triumphs all, and Wallace and Barker seemed to have stagnated in that department.
It’s evident now that the inconsistent performance of Bubba Wallace reflected the reason for 23XI Racing to take this decision. Replacing Bootie Barker with Charles Denike, they have added a valuable addition change in the leadership for Wallace. The ex-militant expertise and success from the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series in the role of crew chief for Christian Eckes who notched up eight wins across 2023 and 2024.
Bootie Barker remains a part of 23XI Racing in a competition director role and Wallace is really glad about that. Bubba reflected on one conversation with Barker in the offseason. Wallace said, “Bootie… It took him a while. And I’ll say, in the offseason, it was a little bit awkward and I had the conversation like ‘Where ya at?’ [Bootie said:] I’m gonna stay with the team. I was like, cool. I think that’s very beneficial for the team.” Certainly, the recent changes seem to be turning the tables in the favor of the team, as Bubba Wallace makes his season start on a high note with his new crew chief.
Bubba Wallace has hit the ground running once again
Bubba Wallace, who previously expressed confidence in his new crew chief, stated, “I got to meet Charles last year for the first time… He’s like super smart, he’s come from a military background. So he’s just very punctual, very set,” proved what this new driver-crew chief duo had to bring this season. He secured a top-five finish at the Cook Out Clash at Bowman Gray in what was a strong start to the season. Then he got his big break, a win at the Daytona Duel race which not only locked him in 3rd place on the grid for the Daytona 500, but got the looming winless streak off his back. To which Wallace expressed, “[Denike] He’s very attentive to every little detail… The way me and Bootie operated was, ‘Hey, man, I gave you a fast car. Gonna qualify 15th, 20th, and we’ll go kick their a– in the race.’ And we’ll talk about tractors and bourbon for the next two hours.”
Wallace highlighted the difference in the relationships and pointed out where Denike differed from Bootie, adding, “We’re all race cars. We’re all, ‘You need to do this. You need to do that. And we’ll execute to the best. And that’ll be it.’ That’s how Charles operates. So a little change of pace for me. It’s a little bit more structured and buttoned up, which I’m not really a fan of. But I’m also like, ‘Hey, this is a new year, new me, I guess.’” So far, the new me has delivered a top-5 finish and a win when it mattered most, and the crew chief could not be happier.
Charles Denike complimented Wallace’s racing spirit, stating, “Huge amount of raw talent and excellent understanding of what he needs in the car and just situational awareness of what’s going on, (His) race-craft is really good, and what we believe right now the best focus to maximize our on-track results is just focusing on the entire efficiency of the weekend… Go qualify a little better. If you look back on last season as a whole, there’s a whole lot of good content, right? So how can we chop off the bad weekends and reduce those and bring them up to the others? And then we’ll work on taking all of it a little bit better from there.” Denike’s vision is clear. He sees the potential in Wallace and is aiming to harness it to the best of his abilities and the best part? Wallace is fully on board with him.
No doubt the season is unfolding the new side of Bubba Wallace, but it will be interesting to see to what extent can he make his progress. What are your thoughts on this? Can Charles Denike guide Bubba Wallace to his first Daytona 500 win and spark a turnaround in fortunes?
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