NASCAR legend Kasey Kahne breaks 29-year sprint car win drought

Long-time NASCAR star Kasey Kahne has finally won a World of Outlaws Sprint Car race as a driver, nearly 30 years after his debut, taking the win at Williams Grove Speedway on Friday night.

Kahne had a 17-year career in NASCAR between his Outlaws debut and his first win in the series as a driver, going to victory lane 31 times in the three national series, including 18 times in the Cup Series (and three times at the Coca-Cola 600).

He's been very involved in Outlaws for years, not just winning races as a team owner but winning six series championships – five with driver Brad Sweet and one with Daryn Pittman.

The 46-year-old was substituting in at Macri Motorsports for Anthony Macri, who was badly injured in a wreck at Williams Grove last month.

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Kasey Kahne wins as substitute driver

Speaking in victory lane after the race, Kahne said: “This is crazy. I couldn’t believe this would happen this weekend. Two weeks ago, I was still building my own cars to get prepared to hopefully race them later this year. Nick Macri and their whole family…

“Man, this whole Macri Motorsports team. (Crew chief) Joe Mooney, he’s exceptional on the wrenches. He worked at KKR (Kasey Kahne Racing), and he’s done so much more since then with Anthony.”

The NASCAR veteran made his debut in the series at Washington's Grays Harbor Raceway on August 22nd, 1997.

Fellow sprint car lover Kyle Larson weighed in on the win from Watkins Glen this weekend, where the Cup Series is racing, saying: “Yeah, that was awesome.

"I was flying here, so I didn’t get to watch the race live, but I’d gotten texts from multiple people when he won and landed in time to watch his interview and just see how excited everybody was for him… the fans, himself, the team.

“Kasey Kahne’s put a lot into the sport of sprint car racing. He’s achieved everything you can achieve as an owner, so to conquer something that he’s been trying to get for a long time and been somewhat close, was cool. He was fast at Lincoln (Speedway in Abbottstown, Pennsylvania) the other night, and then really good last night, so that was awesome.”