Kasey Kahne announces 2018 will be last season as full-time driver

As his 15th season on NASCAR’s top circuit winds down, Kasey Kahne has announced he’ll be done as a full-time at its conclusion.

Kasey Kahne is in his first season driving for Leavine Family Racing, with one top-five finish as he is currently 28th in points. On Thursday, the 15-year veteran of NASCAR’s top racing circuit announced this will be his last season as a full-time driver.

Going into this weekend’s race at Bristol, Kahne has 18 wins over 527 starts in what’s currently called the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series.

Three of those wins have come in the Coca-Cola 600 (2006, 2008, 2012), with his last win for Hendrick Motorsports coming in last year’s Brickyard 400.

After six seasons driving for Hendrick, Kahne was a free agent heading into this season. Last September, he signed on with Leavine to drive the No. 95 Chevrolet.

Kahne announced his plans via a statement on Twitter, and Leavine Family Racing offered an acknowledgement.

Kahne debuted at the 2004 Daytona 500, and he won Sunoco Rookie of the Year driving for Ray Evernham. He also led the series in wins with six in 2006, driving for Evernham.

Kahne’s best finish in the season standings was fourth in 2012, his first season driving for Hendrick. But he has sat on just one pole since 2013, and he only has two wins since the start of the 2014 season.

After tallying just six top-10 finishes over the full 36-race slate in 2017, and with sponsors set to leave anyway, Kahne’s lack of a future driving for Hendrick was all but sealed.

A combination of age (38) and diminished results made leaving his seat as a full-time NASCAR driver pretty much a no-brainer for Kahne

. He has won at Bristol once in his career (spring race in 2013), so maybe Saturday night’s race on the steep oval can kick off a successful final stretch of his final season.