Kasey Kahne announces that 2018 will be his last full time NASCAR season

Kasey Kahne, driver of the #5 Farmers Insurance Chevrolet, stands in the garage area during practice for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Auto Club 400 at Auto Club Speedway on March 19, 2016 in Fontana, California. (Photo by Jonathan Moore/Getty Images)

Cup veteran Kasey Kahne revealed Thursday that 2018 will be his last full-time season in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series. Kahne, 38, currently drives the No. 95 Chevrolet for Leavine Family Racing.

“I’ve thought about this decision for many months, if not longer,” Kahne wrote on his Twitter account. “It’s time for me to step away from racing in NASCAR full time.”

Kahne has 527 starts in the Cup series dating back to 2004. He has 18 wins, 93 top-5 and 176 top-10 finishes along with 27 poles. He started his Cup career replacing  Bill Elliott in the No. 9 Dodge for Evernham Motorsports at the end of the 2003 season when Elliott announced a part-time schedule starting with the 2004 season. He raced for Evernham which became Gillett Evernham until 3009 when he moved to Richard Petty Motorsports. He then had stint at Red Bull Racing before moving to Hendrick Motorsports.

After his release from Hendrick late last season, he signed on to be LFR’s primary driver for the 2018 season.

Greg Engle
About Greg Engle 7421 Articles
Greg is a published award winning sportswriter who spent 23 years combined active and active reserve military service, much of that in and around the Special Operations community. Greg is the author of "The Nuts and Bolts of NASCAR: The Definitive Viewers' Guide to Big-Time Stock Car Auto Racing" and has been published in major publications across the country including the Los Angeles Times, the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He was also a contributor to Chicken Soup for the NASCAR Soul, published in 2010, and the Christmas edition in 2016. He wrote as the NASCAR, Formula 1, Auto Reviews and National Veterans Affairs Examiner for Examiner.com and has appeared on Fox News. He holds a BS degree in communications, a Masters degree in psychology and is currently a PhD candidate majoring in psychology. He is currently the weekend Motorsports Editor for Autoweek.