Kahne to Retire from Full-Time NASCAR Competition

By Seth Eggert, Staff Writer

BRISTOL, Tenn. – The changing of the guard in NASCAR continues as Kasey Kahne announces his retirement from full-time NASCAR competition at the end of the 2018 season. Kahne, a 15-year veteran of the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series, currently drives the No. 95 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for Leavine Family Racing.

In his 15-year tenure, Kahne has never once failed to qualify for a race, standing at 527 consecutive starts to date. In those 527 starts, the Enumclaw, WA native has earned 18 victories, most with Evernham Motorsports, and the most recent at Indianapolis Motor Speedway with Hendrick Motorsports. Kahne’s best Championship Points finish came in 2012 when he won two races and finished fourth in the final Points Standings.

In NASCAR’s Premier Series, Kahne earned 93 top-five and 176 Top-10 finishes. He also earned a staggering 27 pole positions, tying for a series high six poles in 2006, along with four poles in 2010 and 2012.

Kahne is also one of a select few, 31 drivers, that have earned a victory in all three of NASCAR’s National Series. In the Xfinity Series, the 38-year-old driver earned eight victories as well as five victories in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. In the Truck Series, Kahne had an impressive 1.2 career average finish.

Kahne currently sits 28^th in the Championship Points Standings, 663-Points behind Points Leader Kyle Busch. He is also 219-Points behind the cutoff for the Playoffs, held by Alex Bowman. Kahne has earned just one top-five this season, in the Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona International Speedway earlier this year.

Kahne’s announcement comes on the heels of a similar announcement from his former teammate at both Evernham Motorsports and JR Motorsports, Elliott Sadler, who will also step away at the end of the season.

Recently, Leavine Family Racing had announced that the team would be leaving its alliance with Richard Childress Racing, fueling rumors that the team would be making a move to Toyota Racing.

Kahne tweeted this message to his fans,

pic.twitter.com/0V0keaggcL

— Kasey Kahne (@kaseykahne) August 16, 2018