NASCAR: Five possible replacement candidates for Danica Patrick in 2018
By Asher Fair
Kasey Kahne
Kasey Kahne, 37, is like Danica Patrick in that he is driving for one of the top teams in the sport in Hendrick Motorsports, but he has not performed on a high level as of late, as he has just one top 10 finish in the championship standings since he finished in 10th way back in 2009. However, he did win this year’s Brickyard 400 to secure himself a spot in the playoffs for the first time since 2014.
The thing is, Kahne, unlike Patrick, has actually performed well over the course of his career, and he has 18 career Cup Series wins to show for it. At 37 years old, a change of scenery to another top-tier team like Stewart-Haas Racing may be the only option to see if he can, in fact, get his career back on the right track.
GreatClips, Kahne’s primary sponsor, announced that they would end their partnership with the team following this season, and one of his other sponsors, Farmer’s Insurance, also announced that they would not renew their deal with the team.
So while Kahne was under contract with Hendrick Motorsports through 2018, the team announced that they were letting him go at the end of the season, and they ended up signing William Byron to take his seat, leaving Kahne without a full-time ride in 2018.
Perhaps the four-car Stewart-Haas Racing team would give Kahne a chance to get his career back on the right track, especially with a seat now officially open. After all, when he first came to the four-car Hendrick Motorsports team in 2012 in his ninth career season, he had his best career season by far, finishing in a career-high 4th place in the standings. Maybe he can replicate that success by coming to Stewart-Haas Racing to drive the #10 Ford.