NASCAR Cup Series: Kasey Kahne announces his retirement

By Asher Fair | Oct 10, 2018

DAYTONA BEACH, FL - FEBRUARY 14: Kasey Kahne, driver of the #95 Procore Chevrolet, speaks with the media during the Daytona 500 Media Day at Daytona International Speedway on February 14, 2018 in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Photo by Jerry Markland/Getty Images) /

Kasey Kahne has announced that he will not be returning to the NASCAR Cup Series in the 2018 season, effectively meaning that he has announced his retirement.

In mid-August, Leavine Family Racing’s Kasey Kahne announced that the 2018 NASCAR Cup Series season would be his final season as a full-time driver in the sport. He is currently in his 15th season and his first season driving the #95 Chevrolet for the team.

After the 25th race of the 36-race season, the Bojangles’ Southern 500, at Darlington Raceway, Kahne was suffering from extreme heat exhaustion and paid a visit to the infield care center.

Kahne ended up being ruled out for the regular season finale at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Regan Smith replaced him behind the wheel of the #95 Chevrolet.

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It was later confirmed that Kahne would miss each of the three races in the first round of the playoffs, the round of 16, and that Smith would be his replacement in each of them.

After the third and final race of the round of 16 at the Charlotte Motor Speedway roval, Kahne participated in a medical test at the Charlotte Motor Speedway oval with his physicians to see whether or not he could continue driving.

Kahne did not end up being cleared to race in this past Sunday’s race at Dover International Speedway, the opening race of the second round of the playoffs, the round of 12. Once again, Smith served as his replacement.

As a result of not being cleared to return, the 38-year-old Enumclaw, Washington native has announced that he will not be returning to the Cup Series this season, effectively meaning that he has announced his retirement from the sport.

Here is what Kahne had to say about the matter on Twitter.

pic.twitter.com/cjQOxCHWnK
— Kasey Kahne (@kaseykahne) October 9, 2018

From the start of his Cup Series career to the end of it, Kahne never missed one race. He began driving in the Cup Series in the 2004 season, and he competed in each of the 529 races that were contested up until he missed this year’s regular season finale.

Over the course of his 15-year career, Kahne drove for several different teams. He drove for Evernham Motorsports from the 2004 season through the first 21 races of the 2007 season and stayed with the team through the rest of the 2007 season and the whole 2008 season when they became known as Gillett Evernham Motorsports

Kahne continued driving for the team in the 2009 season when they become known as Richard Petty Motorsports. He drove for the team in the first 31 races of the 2010 season before finishing the season at Team Red Bull, the team for which he drove throughout the entire 2011 season.

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From the 2012 season through the 2017 season, Kahne drove for Hendrick Motorsports before moving to Leavine Family Racing for the 2018 season.

In his 529 career starts, Kahne earned 18 victories, 93 top five finishes, 176 top 10 finishes and 27 pole positions. His average starting position was 14.5 and his average finishing position was 17.7. He led 4,678 of the 146,785 laps he completed.

Kahne recorded a career-high six victories in the 2006 season, a career-high 13 top five finishes in the 2004 season, a career-high 19 top 10 finishes in both the 2006 season and the 2012 season and a career-high six pole positions in the 2006 season.

Kahne recorded a career-high average starting position of 8.8 and a career-high average finishing position of 13.1 in the 2012 season, which was the season during which he recorded a career-high fourth place finish in the championship standings. He recorded a career-high laps led total of 744 in the 2006 season.

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Congratulations to Kasey Kahne on a great NASCAR Cup Series career and for making what was probably the best decision in the long-run by walking away when he did. We wish him well as he enters life as an ex-NASCAR driver.

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