Kasey Kahne will leave Hendrick Motorsports in 2018 after six seasons with the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series team, the team announced Monday (Aug. 7).
No replacement has been named for the No. 5 Chevrolet as of yet.
The 37-year-old won the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in July and has 18 MENCS wins in 14 seasons over his career. He began his career with Evernham Motorsports in 2004, with six wins in 2006 alone. Kahne followed that up with a drive for Richard Petty Motorsports in 2009 and two years with Red Bull Racing from 2010-2011.
Six of his victories have come at the wheel of the No. 5.
In his debut Hendrick year, Kahne took two wins and 19 top-10 finishes – a career best. He also finished a career-high fourth in the Cup Series standings in 2012.
“I’d like to thank Rick [Hendrick] and everyone at Hendrick Motorsports for their hard work and dedication, along with providing me a great opportunity and success over the last six years,” Kahne said in a team release. “We won six races together and I’m coming off of one of the biggest wins of my career at the Brickyard, which has given the [No.] 5 team a lot of momentum heading into the playoffs. We still have a lot of racing left in 2017 and finishing strong is our top priority. I look forward to what the next chapter in my career holds.”
Seven-time champion Jimmie Johnson (41) will remain the eldest driver on Hendrick’s roster alongside 21-year-old Chase Elliott and 24-year old Alex Bowman.
“Kasey has worked extremely hard,” Hendrick said. “He’s a tremendous teammate and person, and he has been totally dedicated to our program since day one. I’ve always believed that he’s a special talent, and I know he will thrive in the right situation. We will do everything we can to finish the season as strong as we can.”
Shocker (sarcasm)…when was the last time you heard his name mentioned? Except for the controversially win two weeks ago? Did anybody think that lucky gift from the heavens would save him? Come on..seriously? Pure luck! Kasey seems to me to have been a mute his whole time at HMS. Seems everybody else said he was in junk stuff, but KASEY!
Divide the number of wins by the number of years in the series and he has a better record than little e
Kasey may not have produced the results that were expected but he has always been a true gentleman on and off the track. good luck Kasey
If my memory is correct, Kasey quit on RPM with 10 races left in a season some years ago. At least Hendrick is treating him better than he gave that team.
well duh!
again ray charles and stevie wonder could have seen this coming.
well duh! If Kasey had the same equipment as the other 3 Hendrick Cars and not have been just used as a test car for everyone else then he would have done a whole lot better!!!
If the 5 is the test car, what does that make the 88?
A total failure! Allot of media coverage to trump up a sport. Who are they going to anoint next?
Yeah, and Danica fans are saying the same thing.
I knew someone would bring Danica into this.
Only because I did see a comment from a Danica fan somewhere in the last few days that made the exact same excuse for her lack of success.
The only surprise here is that it didn’t happen two or three years ago.
Agree 100%. It’s been a long time coming.