Kasey Kahne is close to a deal to return to full-time NASCAR competition for Spire Motorsports in the Truck Series next season, according to a report from The Athletic’s Jordan Bianchi. Kahne retired following the 2018 NASCAR Cup Series season, citing issues with dehydration.
Since stepping away from NASCAR, Kahne has made only one start in a NASCAR national series event. He drove the No. 33 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet in an O’Reilly Auto Parts Series race at Rockingham Speedway in April 2025, finishing 14th. Next year Kahne will apparently make a full return in the Craftsman Truck Series, which will then be called the FedEx Freight Truck Series.
In 15 seasons of full-time Cup Series competition Kasey Kahne won 18 times. His best season for wins was 2006, in which he found Victory Lane six times and finished eighth in the championship standings. Kahne’s best career points result was fourth in 2012, his first season with Hendrick Motorsports.
Some of Kahne’s marquee victories include three Coca-Cola 600s and the 2017 Brickyard 400. He also won the 2004 Cup Series Rookie of the Year award and the 2008 All-Star Race and he earned a spot in NASCAR’s 75 Greatest Drivers list. To date Kahne has only made six starts in the Craftsman Truck Series, spread from 2004 to 2015. Incredibly he won five of those races, giving him a staggering 83.3% winning percentage.
In August 2018, Kahne announced that was stepping away from full-time Cup Series racing. Then 38 years old, Kahne was competing for Leaving Family Racing. He made his final Cup start in the Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway the next month, with Regan Smith filling in for the final 11 races of the season. From 2019 to 2026 Kahne has mostly competed in sprint car dirt racing.
