“We’d love to have them”: Dale Earnhardt Jr. makes his desire clear to have Kasey Kahne, Clint Bowyer, and Matt Kenseth race in CARS Tour

Dale Earnhardt Jr., co-owner of the zMAX CARS Tour, recently mentioned that he would love to have Kasey Kahne, Clint Bowyer, and Matt Kenseth join his stock car racing series. He invited the three former NASCAR drivers, saying the series can learn a thing or two from them.

Kasey Kahne, Clint Bowyer, and Matt Kenseth were the stars of NASCAR in the 2000s. Kenseth won the Cup series championship with Roush Racing (now RFK Racing) in 2003, while Bowyer and Kahne had strong seasons when they challenged the field for the title.

Ahead of the CARS Tour's stop at Orange County Speedway, Dale Earnhardt Jr. spoke about inviting the three drivers to run in his short track contests.

"I extend an invitation to Matt Kenseth, Clint Bowyer, and Kasey Kahne, and all kinds of drivers because we'd love to have them drop in, run a race, and learn from their experience." [0:16 onwards]

The former Hendrick Motorsports driver believes the CARS Tour and the three former NASCAR drivers, along with Ryan Newman, who recently debuted in the series, can benefit from each other, saying:

"Ryan (Newman) is coming here with so much experience in not only his Cup career, but other short track racing he's been doing lately. He can say some areas and we can clean some things up, or do some things differently. So it's an opportunity for them to have fun, but also for us to learn as a series." [0:32 onwards]

Even to this day, the aforementioned NASCAR personalities have been keeping in touch with stock car racing. Kasey Kahne returned to NASCAR in a one-off ride with Richard Childress Racing at Rockingham Speedway last week.

Matt Kenseth, meanwhile, took an advisor role at Legacy Motor Club, a Toyota-affiliated race team co-owned by seven-time champion Jimmie Johnson. As for Clint Bowyer, the former RCR driver is part of the Fox broadcasting team alongside 2014 Cup Series champ Kevin Harvick.

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Dale Earnhardt Jr. wants Kasey Kahne to run more races after Rockingham return

Dale Earnhardt Jr. wants Kahne to run more races after the latter driver returned to the NASCAR stage at Rockingham Speedway. Specifically, he hoped to see his former Hendrick Motorsports teammate run in pavement ovals instead of dirt.

In an X (formerly Twitter) post, the 26-time Cup race winner wrote:

"I hope @kaseykahne runs several more pavement ovals. I want us all to live forever!"

Kasey Kahne retired from NASCAR mid-season in 2018 due to health issues. His race at Rockingham not only broke a seven-year absence from the series, but also commemorated his Busch Series debut at the track in 2002.

Kasey Kahne driving the #33 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet at Rockingham Speedway - Source: Getty

When the checkered flag fell at The Rock, the #33 Richard Childress Racing driver crossed the line in 15th position. He later advanced to 14th following Jesse Love's disqualification for failing the post-race inspection, handing Sammy Smith, Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s driver under JR Motorsports, his first win of the 2025 season.