Drew Denham of Williams Township captured the overall Legends championship at Caraway Speedway in Asheboro last week after winning six of 10 races on the .455 -mile asphalt oval track.

Denham, 19, won five straight races in one stretch during the 12-week series, which ran all Legends - Pro, Master and Semi-Pro – as one class. With nine top five finishes, Denham finished second in the last race of the year to Craig Goess of Greenville, former national Pro Legends champion.

Denham led the first 10 laps before Goess passed him in turn three. Denham stayed within a car length over the next nine laps before scraping the wall on the front stretch and knocking out his front end. He nursed his #22 car to a runner-up finish.

Running his first full season as a semi-pro, Denham’s first win came against pro drivers Zane Hedrick and Dan Snyder. His second and third victories came against semi-pro national points leader Addison Rogers, national pro champion John Gottsacker and pro driver Daniel Sossoman, who won last year’s state semi-pro championship. Denham was the top semi-pro finisher in nine of the 10 races.

“I really wanted to win that last race because Craig is one of the top two or three Legends drivers in the nation,” said Denham, a graduate of South Columbus High School. “I could stay with him but I’m not sure I’d got around him.”

Equally impressive was Denham’s showing in the Hardees Summer Shootout Series at Lowes Motor Speedway. The Summer Shootout, which averaged more than 200 cars from 30 states during 10 weeks, is considered the most competitive series on the circuit.

Denham finished fifth in points, one point ahead of Austin Dillon, grandson of Nextel Cup car owner Richard Childress. Seventy-two cars competed in the Legends Semi-Pro division.

“Just getting in the main was difficult enough,” Denham said. “I missed one main because I had a bad qualifying run, which really hurt me in points.”

Denham was also hurt by a black flag in his first race (he finished 23rd), which he described as akin to a touch foul in basketball, and a 14th place finish in the final race. Twice in that final race, Denham took the lead from Jake Dallenbach (son of former Nextel Cup driver and TV analyst Wally Dallenbach). But the yellow flag came out each time and officials put Denham back to second. Denham was turned around following the second restart and fought his way back to a top 15.

“I had the fastest car that night,” Denham said. “That one hurt. To win that last one in the Summer Series on Speed Vision would have been special. It took me a while to get over that.

“We had a good year and it was a lot of fun,” he said. “Nick Pistone (of Mooresville) and his crew did a great job of setting up the car.”

Earlier this year Denham finished second in points in the Winter Heat Series at the quarter-mile track at Lowes Motor Speedway. In three series championships, Denham finished in the top five 18 out of 27 races. He had 22 top 10 finishes.

Denham, who is sponsored by BB&T, Beth Cribb CPA of Whiteville and Denham Construction of Mooresville, plans to make his debut in a Late Model Super Truck next month at Caraway Speedway.

Denham is the son of Robert and Ronda Denham of Williams Township and grandson of Odis and Jeanette Cribb of Williams Township.