NASCAR Cup Series: Kasey Kahne not returning full-time in 2019

Leavine Family Racing’s Kasey Kahne has announced that he will not be returning to the NASCAR Cup Series as a full-time driver in the 2019 season.

Kasey Kahne has announced that the 2018 NASCAR Cup Series season will be his 15th and final season as a full-time driver in the series, as he will not be returning to the series as a full-time driver in the 2019 season.

Since his full-time career as a Cup Series driver began back in the 2004 season, Kahne has not missed a race. He has driven in each of the 527 races that have been held since then, and he is set to compete in the next 13 races as well to finish out the 2018 season.

Here is how the 38-year-old Kahne, who is currently in his first season driving the #95 Leavine Family Racing Chevrolet, announced this news on Twitter.

In his 527 career Cup Series starts, Kahne has racked up 18 victories, 93 top five finishes, 176 top 10 finishes and 27 pole positions. His most recent victory came in last year’s Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in his sixth and final season driving the #5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet. He has led 4,678 of his 145,921 laps in Cup Series races. His average starting position is 14.5, and his average finishing position is 17.7

Kahne’s full-time Cup Series career began one season after his lone full-time season as an Xfinity Series driver. In the 2003 Xfinity Series season, he drove the #38 Akins Motorsports Ford to a seventh place finish in the championship standings. He racked up one victory, four top five finishes and 14 top 10 finishes in that 34-race season.

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Kahne’s entire Xfinity Series career consists of 215 starts over 16 seasons. He has earned eight victories, 46 top five finishes, 87 top 10 finishes and nine pole positions in those 215 starts. His most recent victory came in the 2014 Subway Firecracker 250 at Daytona International Speedway. He has led 1,378 of his 37,575 laps in Xfinity Series races. His average starting position is 12.3, and his average finishing position is 15.8.

Also, Kahne has competed in six Truck Series races over five seasons, and he has had a lot of success in doing so. He has finished in the top two in all of them, and he won five of them. His most recent Truck Series race, which he won, is the 2015 North Carolina Education Lottery 200 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. He has led 328 of his 825 laps in Truck Series races. His average starting position is 4.5, and his average finishing position is 1.2.

Through the first 23 races of the 2018 Cup Series season, Kahne sits in 28th place in the championship standings with just one top five finish, which was also his lone top 10 finish of the season. He finished in fourth place in the Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona International Speedway.

Aside of that fourth place finish, Kahne has not finished a race in higher than 17th so far this season. He has led 30 of his 5,720 laps so far this season. His average starting position is 25.9, and his average finishing position is 23.1, both career-lows.

Are you disappointed to know that Kasey Kahne will be leaving the NASCAR Cup Series as a full-time driver once the 2018 season reaches its conclusion? Who do you believe will replace him as the driver of the #95 Leavine Family Racing  Chevrolet for next season and beyond? Do you believe that he will still compete in a few races here and there as a part-time driver?