Beyond the Flag
Fansided

NASCAR Buy or Sell: Kasey Kahne returning in 2018?

By Asher Fair

WATKINS GLEN, NY - AUGUST 05: Kasey Kahne, driver of the #5 Rated Red Road to Race Day Chevrolet, sits in his car during practice for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series I Love NY 355 at The Glen at Watkins Glen International on August 5, 2017 in Watkins Glen, New York. (Photo by Sean Gardner/Getty Images)
WATKINS GLEN, NY - AUGUST 05: Kasey Kahne, driver of the #5 Rated Red Road to Race Day Chevrolet, sits in his car during practice for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series I Love NY 355 at The Glen at Watkins Glen International on August 5, 2017 in Watkins Glen, New York. (Photo by Sean Gardner/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit

William Byron is set to take over Kasey Kahne’s ride at Hendrick Motorsports in 2018. Will Kahne be back in the NASCAR Cup Series at all next season?

As of this very moment, Kasey Kahne, 37, does not have a full-time ride in the NASCAR Cup Series next season. William Byron is set to move on from his current role as the driver of the #9 JR Motorsports Chevrolet in the Xfinity Series to take over Kahne’s current ride in the #5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet in the Cup Series in 2018 (although Byron will officially drive the #24 car).

Kahne currently sits in 20th place in the championship standings, which would be tied for his worst finish in the standings since he finished in 23rd in the 2005 season driving for Evernham Motorsports. He has just two top 10 finishes in the 22 races since having the best career two-race start to a season, which included a 7th place finish at the Daytona 500 and a 4th place finish at Atlanta for a career-high average finish of 5.5 in the first two races of a season.

However, thanks to the fact that he won year’s Brickyard 400, a victory that broke his career-high 102-race winless streak, he has secured himself a spot in the playoffs and can finish no lower than 16th in the final standings because of it.

In fact, a finish of 14th place or higher, which is very possible given the fact that some of the other race winners so far this season have not had great seasons aside of their victories, would end up being Kahne’s best finish since the 2013 season. So will he be back next season?

Kasey Kahne returning full-time in 2018: SELL

Drivers who currently do not have rides with top-tier organizations that have been signed by top-tier organizations for next season include William Bryon, 19, Erik Jones, 21, Ryan Blaney, 23, and Alex Bowman, 24. Teams simply aren’t after a 37-year-old like Kahne who is not performing on a high level whatsoever.

More from NASCAR

Yes, I realize that this article isn’t asking whether or not Kahne will get a ride with a top-tier team; it’s asking if he will get a ride at all. However, seeing as how he has just six victories in six seasons driving for Hendrick Motorsports, which is arguably the most successful team in NASCAR history with 12 championships in the last 22 years, it would not make a whole lot of sense for him to sign with a smaller team and have even less success there than he has had at Hendrick Motorsports.

And seeing as how the top-tier teams don’t seem to be searching for drivers like Kahne, a veteran who is visibly on the decline, all signs point to the 14-year Cup Series veteran no longer having a full-time ride following the conclusion of the 2017 season.

Next: 10 drivers who deserve better Cup Series rides

Do you think Kasey Kahne will be a full-time driver in the 2018 NASCAR Cup Series season? Let us know in the comments below, and be sure to follow along with Beyond the Flag for the latest news, opinions and analysis stemming from a number of different motorsports series. You don’t want to miss any of it. Also be sure to follow Beyond the Flag on both Instagram and Twitter.

Home/NASCAR