Kasey Kahne wasn’t counting on returning to NASCAR, but he wasn’t expecting to see Rockingham put back on the schedule either.
When Kahne saw that the NASCAR Xfinity Series was returning to Rockingham Speedway on April 19 after a 21-year hiatus, it stoked some old fires for the 18-time NASCAR Cup Series winner, who retired in 2018 mainly because of health issues.
It’s been 12 years since Rockingham held a NASCAR race — a Craftsman Truck race in 2013 won by Kyle Larson. Kahne won the Truck race at Rockingham in 2012.
Since leaving NASCAR, Kahne has competed full-time on the Kubota High Limit Racing winged sprint cars series on dirt.
“Rockingham just sparked something,” said Kahne, who turned 45 on April 10. “The longer I’ve been out of the sport, the more interest I’ve had in feeling the car again and having those feelings I did for so many years driving and working with the teams. Once Rockingham went on the schedule, it’s an open weekend in High Limit Racing on the sprint car side, and it just made sense to try to put something together and do the (North Carolina Education Lottery 250).”
Kahne still had connections with Richard Childress Racing and worked out a deal to pilot the team’s third entry on the one-mile oval at Rockingham in the No. 33 Chevrolet.
Is Kasey Kahne returning to NASCAR Cup Series racing?
With his decision to run at Rockingham, the question naturally came up: Is Kahne considering a return to NASCAR in the Xfinity or Cup series on a full-time basis?
“As of now, this is just a one-off to see how it all comes together,” Kahne said. “I really enjoy racing my sprint car and that series. But yes, I pay close attention to what’s going on with the NASCAR side. I just want to see how it all goes and then decide from that point if maybe there’s another one-off or something else.”
Kahne isn’t closing the door on returning full time to the Cup or Xfinity series.
“I don’t think the whole full time thing would work anymore, but you just never know,” he said. “I didn’t even think a one-off would work a few years ago. So, it’s pretty cool to be a part of it. I’ve been looking forward to this weekend coming up for the last couple of months.”
Kahne stays in touch with NASCAR Cup Series driver Kyle Larson, who won at Bristol last week, because Larson is co-owner of the Kubota High Limit Racing. Kahne also speaks occasionally with some of the other drivers he competed against in his career.
Why Kasey Kahne retired from the NASCAR Cup Series
At the end of the 2003 season, Kahne replaced Bill Elliott in the No. 9 Dodge for Evernham Motorsports after Elliott announced he would run a part-time schedule starting in 2004.
From 2004-2018 Kahne was among the top drivers on the NASCAR Cup circuit. He was the rookie of the year and his first win came the following year at Richmond. His last win was at the Brickyard 400 in Indianapolis in 2017.
In 2023 Kahne was named one of NASCAR’s 75 Greatest Drivers of All-Time.
On Aug. 17, 2018, Kahne announced his retirement to the media at Bristol Motor Speedway.
Kahne pointed to three main factors for his decision to retire: suffering from dehydration, being burned out by the hectic Cup Series schedule, and the desire to do more dirt track racing.
“Where I got so bad was the week after week after week through the summer with the work I would put in during the week and then getting right back in the car,” Kahne said. “My body just never was able to get back to where it needed to be. By the time those hot races in July, August and September came I was just in a bad place.”
What Kasey Kahne likes about Rockingham Speedway
NASCAR Cup racing was a staple at Rockingham Speedway from 1965-2004 and the NASCAR Xfinity Series from 1982-2004.
Kahne ran his first Xfinity Series race at Rockingham in 2002 and won a NASCAR Craftsman Trucks Series race there in 2012, the last NASCAR race at Rockingham. Those are a couple reasons Kahne is so fond of the D-shaped oval track.
“I just always really enjoyed the track, enjoyed the tire fall off and the feel of the car and two different corners, two different ends,” Kahne said. “Front stretch, back stretch, everything’s different there. The whole track, like all the way, it’s just different with grip levels and things. So I always liked going there.”
Reach Mike Organ at 615-259-8021 or on X @MikeOrganWriter.
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