Kasey Kahne Is Back In NASCAR Full Time And This Could Get Interesting

FORT WORTH, TEXAS – MAY 04: Honorary pace car driver, Kasey Kahne speaks to the media during a press conference prior to the NASCAR Cup Series Würth 400 at Texas Motor Speedway on May 04, 2025 in Fort Worth, Texas. (Photo by Sean Gardner/Getty Images)

Getty Images

In news that will no doubt have female NASCAR fans swooning and just about everyone else cheering, Spire Motorsports announced Wednesday that Kasey Kahne will return to full-time NASCAR competition in 2027.

And yes, he still looks like he could be late for a Hollywood casting call.

The 46-year-old Washington native has had quite the NASCAR career, one that began in 2002 in NASCAR’s middle-tier series, now known as the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series. He moved to the Cup Series full-time in 2004 with Evernham Motorsports, replacing NASCAR legend Bill Elliott.

Looking like someone who had wandered onto a red carpet rather than into a stock car garage, Kahne’s popularity rose almost immediately.

He remained with the organization as it transitioned from Evernham Motorsports to Gillette Evernham Motorsports and eventually Richard Petty Motorsports in 2009. During that stretch, Kahne scored 11 Cup Series victories, including six in 2006 alone.

Kahne and Petty parted ways in October 2010, and Hendrick Motorsports came calling.

There was, however, a problem.

Hendrick didn’t have a seat available for him until 2012, which led Kahne to Red Bull Racing for the 2011 season. Red Bull was a short-lived operation that, in hindsight, seems almost like something NASCAR dreamed up after eating a questionable meal. It was also entering its final season.

Kahne nevertheless managed to win with the team, taking his 12th career Cup victory at Phoenix before moving to Hendrick, one of NASCAR’s premier organizations.

Kahne arrived at Hendrick in 2012, essentially reaching the sport’s penthouse.

He spent five seasons there as one of NASCAR’s biggest names, but somehow never quite managed to make the Hendrick machinery work the way everyone expected. He won six races, but crashes—many of them involving Kahne being the innocent bystander in someone else’s stupidity—and struggles even when he managed to stay out of trouble fueled speculation that his time with the organization was coming to an end.

Those rumors became reality in August 2017.

Kahne attempted another comeback with Leavine Family Racing in 2018, but health issues forced him to sit out the Brickyard 400 and the following three races.

The writing was on the wall.

In October 2018, Kahne made it official: He was stepping away from full-time NASCAR racing.

For much of the next decade, Kahne returned to where his racing career began in spirit—open-wheel dirt racing, primarily with the World of Outlaws, while also operating his own Kasey Kahne Racing team.

He made a handful of NASCAR appearances along the way, including starts in the O’Reilly Auto Parts and Truck Series. And those appearances offered a rather inconvenient reminder that Kahne had not exactly forgotten how to drive a race car.

He has made just six career starts in the NASCAR Truck Series.

He won five of them.

His most recent Truck Series victory came in 2015 at Charlotte Motor Speedway, where he also scored Chevrolet’s 200th victory in the series.

Now, in 2027, Kahne will return to NASCAR full-time, driving Spire Motorsports’ No. 77 Chevrolet Silverado in the NASCAR Truck Series.

“This is one of the coolest announcements we’ve been able to make,” said Spire Motorsports Co-Owner Jeff Dickerson. “Kasey is not only a legendary driver but is someone that Spire shares a long history with. Having him in one of our trucks running for a championship means a lot to our organization and we fully trust that he has the same competitive nature and drive to win that he’s always had.”

Indeed, Kahne’s competitive nature was on full display during those occasional NASCAR appearances.

“When Jeff (Dickerson) first asked me about running trucks for Spire Motorsports, I didn’t think he was serious,” Kahne said. “To be out of the sport for as long as I was and to have the opportunity to race for a strong FedEx Freight Truck Series team, or even full time in NASCAR again, was a bit of a surprise.

“The thought of a return to pavement racing and involvement in something that I was a part of for so long was exciting. It started sounding pretty good and I’m thankful for the opportunity to come back with a team that knows how to win.”

So Kasey Kahne, who still looks suspiciously like a Hollywood A-lister, is going NASCAR racing full-time again.

And he is doing it in a series where he has demonstrated an almost absurd level of success, driving for an organization that has demonstrated it knows how to win.

“I kept up with NASCAR enough to know that Spire wins races,” Kahne said. “I saw Kyle Busch’s wins this year, I watched Rajah (Caruth) a lot last year and keep up with what he’s doing. I saw some of Corey Day’s races and Carson (Hocevar) when he won at Texas.

“I just thought that’s actually a really good truck and this could be a fun way to come back into NASCAR and reunite with Chevrolet, a manufacturer I had some really great moments with over the years.”

Yes, Kasey Kahne is returning to full-time NASCAR competition in a Truck.

But there could be another chapter waiting in the wings.

There have been whispers that Dodge could return to the NASCAR Cup Series. The manufacturer left NASCAR after the 2012 season but returned to the Truck Series this season through the Ram brand. That has led to plenty of speculation that the Truck program could eventually serve as a stepping stone toward a full-fledged Dodge return to Cup racing.

Whether that happens sooner or later remains the great unanswered question.

It would also create a rather amusing bit of symmetry for Kahne.

When he moved to the Cup Series full-time in 2004, he did so driving a Dodge. At the time, however, he was still under contract with Ford. A court battle followed, and Kahne ultimately prevailed.

Next season he will be a Chevrolet driver.

But if NASCAR history has taught us anything, it is that the sport has a funny way of recycling old stories. And Kahne has already demonstrated that he is perfectly willing to revisit a few chapters himself.

No matter what happens with Dodge, Kasey Kahne’s return marks the full-time comeback of one of NASCAR’s most popular drivers.

And still one of its most photogenic.