Kasey Kahne had no idea he would be in a full-time ride next year in NASCAR.
For a driver who had decided to exit NASCAR years ago, Kasey Kahne shocked the entire fandom with his new decision. Kahne will be driving for Spire Motorsports in their Truck Series program as a full-time driver next season. Now, Kahne has been active in motorsports, especially in sprint car racing series, but there was no indication that a deal like this was in the works. And now, Kahne has come forward and clarified that his new role was as surprising to him as it was to the NASCAR community.
Spire Motorsports will be relying on him and his experience as a NASCAR winner to bring them the results next season. But other than that, Jeff Dickerson and he clearly struck the right conversation at the right time for this partnership. In an interview with SiriusXM, Kahne said that it all started during a regular meeting in the High Limits Racing series. Dickerson approached with a plan and completely took him off guard.
A deal so good it left both Kahne and the fans speechless
During his peak years in NASCAR, Kahne was a major sensation. As a race winner and victor of multiple crown jewel events, he commanded a lot of respect in the series. While medical complications left him unable to compete comfortably, Kahne was still considered one of the biggest 'what-ifs' on the NASCAR grid.
Now that he has a chance to finish the story that he could never truly end, Kahne is eager to do his best.
"Just hit me out of the blue, and I was completely surprised. The thing that is always on my mind is what I did last year at Rockingham. I did just a one-off O'Reilly race at Rockingham last year, and I just loved it, you know. That was cool to get back into NASCAR and feel the grip levels and just how racing is again. So, I enjoyed that a lot. Opportunities like that are on my mind, but those are few and far between. I've realized since I have been out of the sport, and then this popped up. It's pretty cool."
For those who might be worrying about Kahne's health, good news is that Kasey is very confident about racing again. Especially because Truck races are shorter, and during the Friday night, Kahne doesn't feel like he will be facing any major difficulty. He is already racing in other series, so it shouldn't take long for him to adapt to the Truck series again.
