At the end of the 2018 NASCAR season, 18-time Cup Series race winner Kasey Kahne announced his shock retirement from the sport.

38 years old at the end of that season, Kahne was perceived to have plenty of life left in his NASCAR career, with plenty of drivers regularly continuing to race full-time well into their 40s.

At the time, Kahne had offers to continue racing in the Cup Series, too, but in his official retirement statement, revealed that he 'couldn't commit' to racing full-time any longer.

"I've thought about this decision for many months, if not longer," Kahne said in 2018. "It's time for me to step away from racing in NASCAR full-time.

"I appreciate everything LFR has done for me this season and offering me the opportunity to race in 2019. However, racing in Cup full-time for a few more years was just something that I couldn't commit too."

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Why did Kasey Kahne retire from NASCAR?

His exit statement was clearly vague, but earlier this year, after a one-off return in the Truck Series, the now 45-year-old sat down with his former Hendrick Motorsports teammate Dale Earnhardt Jr on the Dale Jr Download podcast.

In the episode, his decision to call it quits naturally arose, and Kahne opened up, revealing it was due to health struggles he was having at the time.

“I took six years off of NASCAR racing,” Kahne explained to Dale Jr. “I needed to for myself and just kind of get away.”

Asked just how difficult that decision was, Kahne admitted: “Actually pretty hard for a little while, and it made me not pay attention to NASCAR for a little while. I felt that I should still be part of that.”

Ultimately, however, Kahne revealed health reasons meant he had to make the call.

“I needed to get away because of personal health," he continued. “My body, it was struggling with those long races.

“Just went down that path, and I couldn't fix it. The longer the seasons went, the harder it got to recover.

“By the end, I was done in practice. First practice at Darlington, I was sopping wet. If I stood in one area, there was a puddle underneath me.

“I don't know why it went that direction, but I mean, you can't control those things and your body goes certain directions, but mine went that way with heat.”

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Kahne's NASCAR return

Of course, after a six-year hiatus, Kahne returned to NASCAR racing in 2025, making a one-off appearance in the Truck Series at Rockingham Speedway.

He made the outing driving for Richard Childress Racing in their No. 33 Chevy truck, achieving a very respectable 14th-place finish in the end, having picked up heavy car damage after being wrecked early in the race.

Kahne had qualified fourth for the event and showed top-five potential, showing he still has a good turn of speed, even despite his long absence.