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Despite experiencing on-track mishaps at Rockingham Speedway, Kasey Kahne was glad he returned to NASCAR. The 45-year-old said he enjoyed the 256 laps of racing and the environment throughout the race weekend.
Driving the #33 Chevrolet for Richard Childress Racing, Kahne started the North Carolina Education Lottery 250 (Xfinity Series) in a respectable fourth place. However, his car sustained damage after getting caught in a crash with William Sawalich and Katherine Legge on lap 52 before hitting the wall about 200 laps later.
Kasey Kahne crossed the line 15th before settling for a 14th-place finish following Jesse Love's disqualification for failing the post-race inspection. Sammy Smith took over Love's first-place finish, followed by Parker Retzlaff and Harrison Burton.
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The former Hendrick Motorsports driver said (via NASCAR) about his race last Saturday (April 19):
"It’s been a long time, and as long as I drove these cars, it was really cool to get back in one and feel it (and) do that whole race weekend because it’s just so much different."
The returning NASCAR driver, who has been competing in sprint cars under his race team, Kasey Kahne Racing, added:
"The sprint car stuff I’m doing now I love, and things happen quick and the night’s over and you move on to the next one. But this is just a different type of racing, different type of race weekend. I enjoyed it. I’m glad I did it. I enjoyed it. I’ve really looked forward to it and put a lot into it."
The Xfinity race marked Kasey Kahne's return to the stock car racing league after retiring in 2018. He left the sport due to health reasons, citing factors such as dehydration when racing.
"We got some ice bags": Kasey Kahne on racing with health issue at Rockingham
Kasey Kahne revealed cooling down at Rockingham Speedway using ice bags and drinking more water. He had to deal with dehydration after driving a fully-bodied stock car after seven years since he left the sport in 2018.
The 18-time Cup race winner said (via NASCAR):
"Long day. I was hot on Lap 60 [...] And then we got some ice bags and started drinking more water. Went fine from there, but yeah, I haven’t been that hot in a long time. Seven years."
The last NASCAR car Kahne drove was the #95 Chevrolet Camaro of Leavine Family Racing. He only drove the car for half of the 2018 season before retiring. The team signed Regan Smith to finish the season, starting in the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Previously, the driver had a six-year stint with Hendrick Motorsports. He parked the #5 Chevrolet in victory lane six times. The car was given to Kyle Larson starting in the 2021 season, which he drove in a championship-winning campaign in his first year.
