Kasey Kahne didn’t like the way his full-time NASCAR career ended.
So he hopes he can finish it off with something that makes him smile — nine years after his last full-time season.
The 46-year-old Kahne will compete full time in NASCAR’s truck series in 2027, as he drives the No. 77 for Spire Motorsports.
Kahne’s last full-time NASCAR season came to an abrupt end in September 2018 when his body could not handle (or recover quickly enough) from the physical demands of weekly Cup races.
Kasey Kahne will make his return to a full-time ride in NASCAR in 2027.
Spire co-owner Jeff Dickerson approached Kahne in August at the Knoxville Nationals sprint-car event to ask him if he would consider running full time for Spire. Since getting out of the NASCAR seat in 2018, Kahne has competed in sprint-car racing.
“To get that type of an opportunity to run a truck and be with a team with a lot of success, I was like, ‘Man, I can’t pass this up,’” Kahne said on Speed with Harvick and Buxton. “I got excited pretty quick.”
Kahne knows he won’t have as much success as his current truck stats, which is five wins in six races. He last raced a truck in 2015. He competed in one O’Reilly Series race in 2025 at Rockingham.
“I want to enjoy it, but I wouldn’t be doing it either if I didn’t want to be competitive,” Kahne said. “I just still love the competition and just trying to win every time you’re on track, just trying to do the best that you can and get the most out of each weekend.”
Kasey Kahne is looking forward to having fun and to being competitive when he returns to his full-time ride next season.
He will have plenty of competition next year, as Kahne still plans to run about as many sprint-car races as he has truck races. There are 25 races on the truck schedule.
And this opportunity gives Kahne a way to end his NASCAR career on his terms. He won 18 Cup races over 15 years in Cup.
“My body, in a way, was just giving up on me. To run those full Cup races week after week and be able to be just as sharp at the end of the race or later in the season as it got hotter and more humid … so I was frustrated with that and just how it all ended,” Kahne said.
Kahne noted that, health wise, he still would not be able to do a full Cup season. But the shorter truck schedule with more weekends off, shorter races and more night races give him confidence he will not have a recurrence of those health issues.
“I think that will fit me really well,” Kahne said during a virtual news conference on Wednesday. “There’s more ways to stay cool these days than there was back then as well.
“I just think working hard to make sure that I stay cool, and the truck is as cooled as it can be — mall that stuff will help throughout the season and will make it possible.”
Kahne said his deal is currently for one year and that he is just focused on 2027 at the moment.
A lot has changed since his last full-time season, as he expects to be in the simulator much more than in the past. He said his biggest adjustment at Rockingham was just getting used to pit road again.
“I’m definitely going to have fun with it,” Kahne said. “I look at it, and they have some really strong truck teams, really strong drivers. And yeah, it’s going to be a blast to get in the middle of it and kind of see where we stack up and just enjoy every bit of it.”
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