Trouble with dehydration has Kasey Kahne speculating that he may not be able to return for the race in Las Vegas, and it’s fair to wonder if we will see him drive again at all.
Driving in the NASCAR Cup Series, or participating in any pro sport, for that matter, is often worth a lot of personal sacrifice for the athletes involved, or so they’ve told us over the years. It’s not worth their long-term health, though, and that’s why the stories Kasy Kahne has been telling this week are so harrowing.
Kahne told ESPN’s Bob Pockrass that he experiences severe dehydration issues while driving the No. 95 Leavine Family Racing Chevrolet at Darlington, and while he emphasized that he did not feel he was a danger to other drivers, he also openly questioned whether he should have remained in the car during the final part of the Bojangles’ Southern 500.
As Kahne explained, those problems could pop up again, which is why he is sitting out the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis and Regan Smith will drive the 95.
"I just can’t control the temperature of my body and my heart rate. Once it gets to that point, there’s nothing I can do until I get out of the car.We’re still trying to figure that out. That’s why I’m not racing this weekend, because I don’t want to create any more damage to myself, to my body, until I understand it better."
There are still 11 races left in the season, but since Kahne isn’t one of the drivers who will be chasing the championship during the NASCAR Playoffs, it’s fair to wonder whether he will return at all. His comments suggest that he wants to continue driving, and that’s only natural since these are the final races he may ever run in the Cup Series, but given the fact that he’s retiring to spend more time with his family, there is an understandable risk/reward element to his decision about when or if to keep going.
If he ends up walking away before the end of the season, Kahne will retire after a career that was highly successful by many measures. His 18 Cup Series victories include three wins at the Coca-Cola 600 and a surprising Brickyard 400 triumph in 2017. Kahne is also a former Rookie of the Year and All-Star Race winner, and he served as the de facto face of Dodge’s return to Cup Series racing back in 2004.
It will be a bummer if he’s forced to call it quits before he’s ready, but it’s also pretty easy to speak for all NASCAR fans in this case and say we hope Kasey makes the call that he thinks is right for him. Driving even one lap around Darlington while worried about your heart rate sounds like a scary enough situation that it’s worth taking 100 percent seriously.