Kasey Kahne done racing full time in Cup after this year

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aroundgoes

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-----I might get some heat for this but good riddance. Guy has look so unmotivated last few years
 
He seemed to have a little pep in his step this year. Went to a Q&A before the July Daytona race and he was great. Ran awesome that night too.
 
Can't say I'm too surprised. Hopefully his "part time" rides going forward are with quality teams. I always liked Kahne.
 
First domino to fall - what I expect to happen:

MJT to the 41 w/ Bass Pro & Pearn
Kurt to the 1 w/ Monster Energy
Christoper Bell to the 95 w/ backing from JGR/TRD
78 closing it's doors.
 
Same situation with Jamie Mac. Should have been gone years ago. I like Kasey and all but he hasn’t looked competitive in years.
 
Best of luck to him. Sad day for his fans.

The Chase Elliott and YRB bandwagons are not yet full :cool:
 
Get That 88 Up There !! said:
Same situation with Jamie Mac. Should have been gone years ago. I like Kasey and all but he hasn’t looked competitive in years.
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It's hard to get rid of a guy who makes the playoffs every year. Jamie has hardly sniffed the front since he won the All-Star race in 2013, but he's qualified for the playoffs the last three years. I agree it's time to move on, but you can understand why he was able to stay on.
 
Wants to spend more time with Tanner? The "grueling" schedule? Come on Kasey, most people work 5 days a week 52 weeks a year. Some get vacation, maybe 2 - 4 weeks. You race 36 races a year in Cup with a few extra weekends. How many days/weeks do you have off?
...but, it is great he will be at the dirt track more.
 
Man they’re dropping like flies...a 13 year career seems like he just started yesterday in the 9 Dodge Dealers Dodge of Evernham Motorsports. I thought out of all of them he had the best shot of being the next Jeff Gordon, he had a pretty good career. Maybe should have accomplished more. Is he going the Stewart route and running dirt full time?
 
Argument on Twitter if Kasey is a hall of famer

18 career wins, 3 top 10 point finishes, 27 poles

I say no. I mean, he was nothing special, but who knows
 
He was a great driver before the CoT and Gen 6, my guess is the old cars fit his driving style better.

I always liked him but if he's replaced by someone more exciting then I'm all for it. He seems to have lots of passion for sprint car racing so I'm sure he will stay busy with that.

And no to the HoF debate.
 
Half of my bold prediction is complete (at least 2 long time Cup drivers announce their retirement before the end of the year).

Since he'll still be racing part-time, I'm not sure that this counts as a full-on retirement though.
 
As a Sprint car fan first and foremost, this can only mean better things for us SC fans. Regarding HOF, The times are changing, in as much as I dont think youll see many 25 year careers coming after the current generation of old drivers retire, so 18 wins may be enough at some point in time for consideration..
 
Drivers from my childhood are retiring in droves now.

Kasey's had a solid career and was probably one of the best intermediate track drivers in the field at one point. Charlotte was one of Kahne's best tracks, he was a absolute monster there and Atlanta. Shame to see his career end like this, I think if Red Bull stuck around... I think Kasey's career would have panned out differently than it has now.
 
Kahne could really wheel a WoO Sprint and a USAC sprint too.

Saw him almost win a big dollar main with the right front tire flat with five to go. Did a wheelie off each corner and used the right front rim to dig in at the end of the straight....backing all around the corner. Pretty darn impressive....but Swindle caught him with a lap to go...he still managed to finish third.

In Cup...he could banzai for the short term, but never seemed to have the where withal to manage an entire race. His eighteen wins are mostly due to top notch teams and equipment in my opinion.
 
I myself find it pretty concerning that these guys arnt racing long careers anymore and are retiring earlier and earlier. Is it sponsorship? Schedule? Lack of good teams? They've all said when they step away they are stepping away full time. Well what part time teams are good enough or can afford to pay these high caliber drivers? Just so many questions I guess I have. Granted this has happened in the past I just dont remember it being this.... harsh and quick.
 
Disappointing. I was hoping to see what he could do if LFR made the jump to TRD.

Always liked Kahne. One of the great what ifs in regards to his career. He was as talented as anyone. Should have won like 6 races his rookie year in the Evernham 9 car. Just never could put it all together to be a consistent title threat. Still, 18 wins in the Cup series is nothing to dismiss. Solid career. Good luck to the guy.
 
Sigh, I'm said to see him go. But I'm happy he gets to do it on his terms, and not just from the lack of a ride.
 
I'm honestly not that surprised when Inthibk about it. I remember an interview Kasey did pretty early in his career where he said he didn't see himself racing Cup after age 40, he will be 39 in April.
 
DIDIT said:
Wants to spend more time with Tanner? The "grueling" schedule? Come on Kasey, most people work 5 days a week 52 weeks a year. Some get vacation, maybe 2 - 4 weeks. You race 36 races a year in Cup with a few extra weekends. How many days/weeks do you have off?
...but, it is great he will be at the dirt track more.
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This just proves that these guys can no longer relate to the struggles of the average fan.
 
Sorry to see him go, but honestly, it doesn't seem like he has been having fun for quite some time, beyond even the on-track struggles. When you have a certain level of financial independence, it's hard to put in the amount of effort required to run Cup schedule if you're not REALLY into it . I imagine the reality of having to work even harder to achieve a lower level of success than what he was accustomed to and getting paid FAR less to do it probably played a big part in the decision too.
 
Formerjackman said:
Sorry to see him go, but honestly, it doesn't seem like he has been having fun for quite some time, beyond even the on-track struggles. When you have a certain level of financial independence, it's hard to put in the amount of effort required to run Cup schedule if you're not REALLY into it . I imagine the reality of having to work even harder to achieve a lower level of success than what he was accustomed to and getting paid FAR less to do it probably played a big part in the decision too.
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Seems like he hasnt had fun since Evernham disbanded and then the team went through its troubles. I really really thought he would have come close to winning a cup with Hendrick. I liked watching Kasey watch, ill be excited to see him race on Dirt.
 
kk5fan said:
This just proves that these guys can no longer relate to the struggles of the average fan.
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No, it doesn't.

Like anyone else, their lives changed when they went auto racing at the top level. Accordingly, their personal struggles changed with that. That does not mean they've forgotten where they came from, In this case, in the pits at Skagit Speedway watching his old man struggle to keep his sprint car team alive. I saw it.

So many of the comments in these kinds of conversations dehumanize these people. It's wrong.
 
I always take press release spin with a grain of salt when the topic is hiring, firing, or retirement. One or two weeks ago, Kasey was vocal about how he was eager to race with LFR in 2019. Now the schedule is too grueling and wants to be home with his son.

[Similar deal with Elliott Sadler... he wants to be at home with his family, but that's a complete reversal from his previous comments about his passion to race next year, and his commitment to finding sponsors to replace One Main Financial.]

Makes me wonder if the 95 car is getting assigned a different role in TRD's 2019 plans, maybe a role to relieve TRD's logjam of young drivers... potentially Bell... potentially Suarez. I'll sit back and wait for news.

And my $0.02 on the HoF: No, not even close.
 
Decent career but not even close to HOF caliber. 18 wins is OK but not when you spent the bulk of your career in top equipment like HMS.
 
Kasey Kahne has been my driver since Rusty Wallace retired. He started off his career really strong, but was forced to move around because of the lack of team quality. When he landed at Hendrick, I thought he was going to blast off into space and become super successful, but it just never really happened..and then he lost his crew chief who was at the very least helping him get a win or two a year. Keith Rodden was terrible for Kahne and that team, and as a fan of Kahne, it's unbelievable that Rick Hendrick never replaced that guy until like 5 races at the end of Kahne's last season at Hendrick. And because of that, I always felt that Hendrick knew he was going to replace Kahne sooner rather than later. Now with LFR, I'm rooting for the team to make gains each week and improve throughout the year. I was hoping Kahne would stay in 2019, but totally understand why he wouldn't want to.

Being a Kahne fan has been really rough the last 3 or 4 years. I can't even imagine what it was like for him. I'm sure a good amount of people gave up on him and picked someone else, but I always stuck with him no matter how bad it got. I said this in a post last week (maybe the week before) that if Kahne retired, I'd stop watching Nascar. I'm staying true to that and 2018 will be my last.

Those that do continue to watch, I hope you're drivers have a wonderful year, unless you're a Kyle Busch fan :D (Kahne still owes him a bump or two).
 
Cholo said:
Decent career but not even close to HOF caliber. 18 wins is OK but not when you spent the bulk of your career in top equipment like HMS.
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He will get in sooner or later. They are gonna run out of Cup Champions and people who have won 30-90 cup races before long and someone will have to go in.
 
Spotter22 said:
He will get in sooner or later. They are gonna run out of Cup Champions and people who have won 30-90 cup races before long and someone will have to go in.
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Hopefully they will reduce the number of entrants, I can see having a large number now because so many drivers are older, but it will get really watered down after awhile.
 
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