BARBERVILLE, Fla. — On a cool evening where the final result wasn’t one that should have made him smile, Kasey Kahne couldn’t help himself as he leaned against a black toolbox inside the pits at Volusia Speedway Park as his crew scraped mud and inspected his sprint car parked right before him. That he had spun out in the feature of the World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series opener on Thursday was of little consequence.
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What had Kahne smiling was that he was here, at this half-mile clay track in Central Florida, as a full-time WoO competitor.
Just three years ago Kahne, 41, faced serious doubts whether he’d ever race again, concerns that arose after complications with chronic severe dehydration forced him to prematurely retire from NASCAR in 2018 and a sprint car crash in 2019 that left him with serious injuries. Team ownership, not actually racing, appeared to be Kahne’s only avenue to remain active in motorsports.
But having since returned to full health in 2020, Kahne is not just back racing but doing so full-time having committed to running over 80 sprint car races on the WoO circuit. And though not satisfied with finishing 19th in the 26-car field, he found gratification in the journey that got him here and the one he was about to embark on.
“I thought I wouldn’t race a whole lot anymore,” Kahne said. “But now I’m really glad to be in a car and really glad to be racing again. It excites me. I feel really good about it. … My body’s really good again and my eyes are really good again, so it’s nice to not be dizzy.”
Despite 141-career WoO starts to his name, this is going to be a different experience for Kahne. The most races he’s entered in a single year were the 27 he ran in 1999, long before he became an 18-time NASCAR Cup Series race winner and one of its most popular stars. Then once he reached the Cup Series in 2004, running WoO full-time was not a realistic endeavor. And even after Kahne retired from NASCAR and shifted his focus to sprint car racing with the shorter distances better suited for him rather than the typical 400- and 500-mile races that line the NASCAR schedule, a full-time campaign was not something he much considered.
All that changed last year.
Needing a driver, Roth Motorsports asked Kahne in August if he would drive the final 24 races for the team. He jumped at the chance. It wasn’t before long he realized how much he loved racing WoO full-time. By the time the season-ending World Finals rolled around in early November, Kahne began thinking this was something he wanted to do in 2022, prompting him to enter the offseason with the intent of putting together sufficient sponsorship to make it happen.
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“By Charlotte time last year and the season was about over, I really wanted to keep going. I didn’t want it to be over with,” he said.
Sponsorship deals were put together and Kahne is behind the wheel of the No. 9 Kasey Kahne Racing car in 2022, with KKR continuing to field the No. 49 car for three-time defending series champion Brad Sweet, who Kahne says he’ll lean on for guidance.
Considering his boss had a young family, a history of health issues and was financially secure, Sweet admits to being surprised when he learned of Kahne’s intentions. But Sweet also understood why Kahne would make such a commitment, that the opportunity to do something he had long dreamed about was something he couldn’t pass up.
“I can say if I was in his shoes, I wouldn’t do it,” Sweet said. “But I’m also going into my ninth season, and he’s never been able to do it. I think he’s just in a place in his life where he wants to prove it to himself that he could be out here and do this.”
Being a full-time WoO driver is an unquestionable grind. From February to November, it entails crisscrossing the country, often visiting one remotely located dirt track after another. There are few days off, the competition is stiff, the cars are physically demanding and it’s easy to get beaten down mentally by a string of poor finishes. And even with Kahne’s extensive sprint car experience, he faces a big acclimation process.
“The biggest thing is just being prepared to get your ass kicked every night by these guys,” said James McFadden, who previously drove for KKR before replacing Kahne at Roth this season.
Kahne understands what he’s facing. He knows that his rookie season — yes, he’s considered a rookie and is vying for Rookie of the Year honors — will be filled with frustration. Races like the one he had Thursday at Volusia are going to be the norm. Expectations should be muted. Both McFadden and Sweet told Kahne there would be many times where he would question himself and how quickly he pushed past that would go a long way to dictating whether he achieved his goal of becoming a consistent contender.
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“You’re going to have bad nights and the quicker that you can recover and get that night behind you, the better off you’ll be,” Sweet said. “That’s the biggest thing I see is the young guys just get beat up, so mentally, when they’re having an off night, it bleeds and keeps bleeding into the next night. You see the veterans have a bad night then turn around and recover really well the next night. I think that’s what separates the guys that run towards the top from the guys that haven’t really contended towards the top of the points.”
Whatever challenges await him, Kahne is eager to tackle. He’s happy, has his health and he’s excited to do something he’s passionate about.
“I’m really glad about it, looking forward to it all,” he said.
And with that, another wide smile came across his face.
(Photo: Michael Reaves / Getty Images)
Jordan Bianchi is a motorsports reporter for The Athletic. He is a veteran sports reporter, having covered the NBA, NFL, Major League Baseball, college basketball, college football, NASCAR, IndyCar and sports business for several outlets. Follow Jordan on Twitter @jordan_bianchi
