Kasey Kahne will retire from full-time NASCAR competition following the 2018 season.
Kahne, 39, is in his 15th season as a Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series driver. The Washington native has 18 career wins in 527 starts, with a best finish of fourth this year, his first with Leavine Family Racing.
“I’ve thought about this decision for many months, if not longer,” Kahne said in a tweet he sent out Thursday morning. “It’s time for me to step away from racing in NASCAR full time. I appreciate everything LFR has done for me this season and offering me the opportunity to race in 2019.
“Racing in Cup full-time for a few more years was just something that I couldn’t commit to. I’m not sure what the future holds for me, but I know I’m at ease with the decision that I have made. The highs didn’t outweigh the lows and the grueling schedule takes a toll on your quality of life. I need to spend more time doing thing I enjoy and love and that’s spending time with Tanner [son] and my sprint car teams.”
Kahne’s career started in 2004, competing for Evernham Motorsports. He remained loyal to Evernham until the No. 9 team merged with Richard Petty Motorsports in 2010. Late that season, he joined Red Bull Racing, which he stayed with the 2011 season before jumping ship to Hendrick Motorsports at the beginning of 2012.
In six seasons for HMS, Kahne recorded six victories, including the Brickyard 400 and Coca-Cola 600. He finished a career-high fourth in the championship standings in 2012, tying a career-best 19 top-10 finishes.
Kahne is also an eight-time XFINITY Series winner and has won five races in six career Truck Series starts. He also owns a World of Outlaw Sprint Car team, which recently won the Knoxville Nationals with Brad Sweet.
“I’ve had a great career in racing and met so many amazing people and fans along the way,” Kahne said. “We still have some work to do this year in the No. 95 and I look forward to finishing the season with this team.”
About the author
Dustin joined the Frontstretch team at the beginning of the 2016 season. 2020 marks his sixth full-time season covering the sport that he grew up loving. His dream was to one day be a NASCAR journalist, thus why he attended Ithaca College (Class of 2018) to earn a journalism degree. Since the ripe age of four, he knew he wanted to be a storyteller.
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I expect to see more of this in the next year or two. Lots of contracts to be renegotiated or renewed at a lower price. some won’t want to do it and leave.
I thought he already had retired.
I never much cared for most of the teams Kahne has driven for, and I’ve never really been a Kasey Kahne fan, but I’ll say this about him… He races hard, he drives clean, and he seems to be decent guy. He deserves better than spending the next few years as a back-marker watching his contemporaries win races.
It never seemed like he lived up to his potential… or maybe he was over-hyped to begin with.
Lost interest in Quiter Kahn’s when he quite Petty with 10 races left in the season. LFR took a spep back with that spook behind the wheel this season
you would have quit Petty as well if you were given unsafe cars like he was
He was not the same after a crash and subsequent strange interview with Dr. Punch at New Hampshire a few years ago.
Oh yeah, I forgot about that. Yes, very, very weird.