Kasey Kahne Isn’t Downgrading By Going to LFR

It was announced yesterday that cup series veteran Kasey Kahne has finally found a new home for 2018. Kahne will join Leavine Family Racing with their no. 95 Chevrolet team starting in Daytona. Kahne was replaced at Hendrick Motorsports by rising Xfinity star William Byron, who will drive the renumbered no. 24 car, which will be the former no. 5 team as Chase Elliott moves to the no. 9 team.

This move makes this silly season even sillier, as now seasoned veteran and now former driver of the no. 95 team Michael McDowell is now out of a ride for 2018. But McDowell showed that the no. 95 car can indeed be competitive with its Richard Childress Racing technical alliance. LFR confirmed last night that their alliance would be maintained with RCR and ECR engines for 2018. Now, with what can be described by some as a driver upgrade for the team, this team can have its best season on record since its inception over five years ago.

I may be over-hyping it, making this seem like more than it may seem to the readers, but I truly believe Kasey Kahne will have a stronger season with the no. 95 team next year than he did with the no. 5 team this year. Kasey will be the only driver on their roster, the only car the team has to prepare. Everything is on a much smaller scale than it was when he was with Hendrick, where they have to prepare four cars to compete for wins every week. Kahne will compete for wins in 2018, which is something they could not say this season, even with the win at the Brickyard. In Indianapolis, they got lucky. They may have had a tenth place car that day, but due to process of elimination with wrecks and other issues taking out the leaders, Kahne was the best car left at the end. So do not sleep on Kasey Kahne next year, because he is not going to go away easy.

Nick Olsen
Latest posts by Nick Olsen (see all)