Kasey Kahne Open to Additional NASCAR Starts if Rockingham Goes Well

Dave Kallmann / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel via Imagn Content Services, LLC

Kasey Kahne is set to make his first NASCAR National Series start in nearly seven seasons, as he'll compete in Saturday's NASCAR Xfinity Series North Carolina Education Lottery 250 at Rockingham Speedway, driving the No. 33 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet.

Ahead of practice for Saturday's race, Kahne, 45, held a press conference in the Rockingham Speedway media center, where he spoke at length about how the return of the iconic race track, where he first turned laps in a Stock Car more than 20 years ago, fueled his desire to make a NASCAR comeback.

RELATED: Why Kasey Kahne is Returning for NASCAR Xfinity Series Event at Rockingham

While many have expected this to be a one-off appearance for Kahne, who ended his full-time NASCAR Cup Series career mid-season in 2018 due to health issues, the Washington native says he would be open to additional starts in the NASCAR National Series if Saturday's race goes well for him.

"Yeah, I would," Kahne stated. "This has been as excited and happy [as] I've been this whole year, whether it's Sprint Car racing or pavement racing, in a little while when it comes to racing. I've been really looking forward to this race. And I just really thought, just see how it goes. See if things click, if it makes sense. If I feel like I've been doing it for 15 years, then yeah, maybe we could get another one in later in the year. If it's difficult, I don't know. Maybe one and done. Just have to pay attention, see how it goes, and go from there is my thought."

For Kahne, he doesn't expect to go out, win the pole, and dominate on his path to a victory in Saturday's race at Rockingham. The driver, who was named one of NASCAR's 75 Greatest Drivers in 2023, knows that the field in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, who race each week, are quite stout.

However, Kahne feels it's realistic for him to be very competitive on Saturday afternoon, and he would consider it a success if he could find himself in the top-10 for the majority of the event.

"Yeah, I don't know. Like, for me, I want to race every lap. I want to be very competitive. I feel like to be out as long as I have and to come back and just do everything perfect and win would be very tough," Kahne explained. "These guys do it every weekend, they're very good at it. And they put a lot of time into it year after year. So, I think that would be very tough to do, but I think we can be very competitive, run in the top-10 in the race, and who knows what happens after that."

One of the things that has allowed Kahne to carry confidence about his outlook heading into this weekend is that he participated in a January test session at the 1.017-mile track, and in the months since the test, Kahne has had the chance to hone things in further on the simulator.

"I've been able to do some of the simulator stuff, whether it was at [General Motors] or at [Richard Childress Racing], with the different ones, which has been really nice," Kahne explained. "I didn't do a whole lot of that years back, but I've been able to this time around, and I feel like it's all much closer. It was nice to do it after we tested, and just to kind of see the similarities and how close it was. I feel like it's been really good."

Before Kahne can even begin dreaming about where he'll finish in Saturday's race, though, and before he can even begin to start planning additional races that he'd like to compete in, the driver has some boxes he needs to check off. First off, he needs to come away from Saturday's race feeling that he understands how the NASCAR Xfinity Series car drives.

In his time away from NASCAR, Kahne has been fully engrossed in competing on the dirt in Winged Sprint Car races for his own Kasey Kahne Racing team. The Sprint Car world is vastly different from the world of NASCAR, which Kahne was part of from the early 2000s until the 2018 season.

"To me, the biggest thing is kind of feeling the car and how it works in traffic, and at speed racing, qualifying, just the whole process, the whole weekend," Kahne said. "You know, working with a spotter, you're on the radios a lot. A lot of things are different than how they are with Sprint Cars. So, just kind of see how it goes, but I feel like it's going to go pretty good."

For those wondering about Kahne's health, as he is set to return to stock car racing, the driver says he feels like he will not suffer any setbacks. The driver suffered from incredible levels of sweat and dehydration in the waning years of his full-time NASCAR career, but he feels racing sporadically, and outside of the Summer months, will allow him to compete with no issue.

"As far as my health, I'm in a good place right now because I don't do this all the time. I don't do the long races, the hot, you know, it got worse as soon as the Summer months came, and then every week after that was just draining me the last couple of years I did it," Kahne said. "I think going into this is good. I saw 88 degrees, and I was like, 'That's nice, I'm looking forward to it, I'm fine with it.' Other people called and were like, 'Can you do it?' Yeah, it's not that big of a deal, it'll be fine."

Kasey Kahne and the NASCAR Xfinity Series field will get their first chance to attack the Rockingham Speedway this weekend in practice, which is set for Friday, April 18 at 3:05 PM ET. That session will be viewable on The CW App. The Xfinity Series will return to the track on Saturday, April 19 for qualifying at 11:30 AM ET (The CW App) and the race is set for 4:00 PM ET and will be televised on The CW.