"We're just not getting good results": When Richard Petty reflected on struggles as NASCAR team owner amid losing Kasey Kahne

Richard 'The King' Petty, seven-time NASCAR Cup Series Champion and former owner of Richard Petty Motorsports, spoke about the departure of Kasey Kahne during the 2010 season, a year that the team secured no wins.

Petty, who was being inducted into the first-ever class of the Hall of Fame in 2010, spoke about his honor in the middle of the season with The New York Times, while discussing his team's performance that year.

Kasey Kahne, who left Richard Petty Motorsports (now Legacy Motor Club) in October of 2010 after he had expressed his feelings about the poor equipment he was driving with, was already scheduled to end his time with The King's team, joining Red Bull Racing's Cup Series team for the 2011 season.

During the 2010 season, Richard Petty Motorsports was only able to achieve Top 5 and Top 10 finishes by their drivers - Kahne, AJ Allmendinger, Paul Menard, and Elliott Sadler (only Top 10). When he spoke about how he felt the team was performing with NYT in May of 2010, Petty was succinct.

“We’re having pretty good races, but we’re just not getting good results"

Kasey Kahne made his full-time Cup Series debut with The King's team, securing 11 wins over his time with them. During his seventh and final season with Richard Petty Motorsports, Kahne achieved seven Top-fives and nine Top-10s.

The driver spent the final five races of 2010, along with the entirety of the 2011 season with RBR, with whom he achieved one win, eight Top-fives, and 16 Top-10 finishes. Kahne then moved to Hendrick Motorsports, with whom he secured six wins, 35 Top-fives, and 73 Top-10 finishes.

Kasey Kahne's last season in the Cup Series was incomplete. He joined the Leavine Family Racing team for 25 races in 2018 until he retired from the sport due to heat exhaustion and body temperature issues.

Kasey Kahne makes his NASCAR return in 2025

Kasey Kahne before the Consumers Energy 400 at Michigan International Speedway. Aug 12th, 2018 - Source: Imagn

Last month it was announced that Kasey Kahne would be back in the driver's seat after stepping away from the sport in 2018, to drive in the Xfinity Series race taking place at the Rockingham Speedway on April 19. The 44-year-old will be piloting the Richard Childress Racing's #33 car in the 250-lap race.

Last week, Kahne made it to the track for a testing session, saying that everything felt business as usual to him.

"[J]ust hanging out in the trailer, behind the trailer for the first half-hour, hour this morning waiting to get going, it just felt pretty normal. It didn’t feel too different. So I guess when you put basically your whole life into just racing and NASCAR for that many years leading up to it, and then 16 years in the sport, to take a little bit of time off and come back, it still feels pretty familiar.” [via NASCAR]

Kasey Kahne will be returning to the speedway as a victor after he achieved a win at the 2012 NASCAR Truck Series race that took place at Rockingham.