It’s Kasey Kahne Friday every other week in the 2027 NASCAR Truck season

It’s Kasey Kahne Friday practically every other week next year.

That’s because Spire Motorsports has hired the retired NASCAR Cup Series driver to compete full-time in the Truck Series behind the wheel of the No. 77 next season. In other words, the meme will finally become a reality in 2027.

Kahne last competed in the Cup Series in the Southern 500 back in 2018. He was sidelined the next weekend with an ailment that raised his heartbeat and body temperature and never returned.

Since then, Kahne has learned he can compete in shorter events, like his native Sprint Car racing and an O’Reily Series race last year at Rockingham Speedway. This inspired Spire co-owner Jeff Dickerson to go to Knoxville Nationals this year and pitch Kahne the idea.

It was a relatively quick ‘yes.’

“I just thought it was really cool and exciting,” Kahne said. “Myself and (partner) Amy, we thought about it, talked to (son) Tanner, made sure he was cool with it and (daughter) Ana and everybody was.

“So yeah, I think it fits me pretty well also just because of the shorter races, a lot of night races, the long Cup races throughout a full season. I just couldn’t handle that anymore and that’s why I had to get out of the sport when I did, but I can make this happen and do it, and do it well.”

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To wit, Kahne isn’t remotely concerned about his health and said he doesn’t need to check with his doctors before doing this either.

“To me, the big thing is the shorter races,” Kahne said. “I could always make it in the Cup cars to halfway and that’s when it would kick in, and then by July and August, there are no breaks and it keeps adding up.

“So that’s what happened, when I had the final one at Darlington, it was just too much built up and I could not recover and that’s where my body was.”

There are 25 races on the Truck Series schedule next year, compared to 38 in Cup, and a vast majority of the Friday races are under the lights at night. There is also considerably more driver comfort options to keep in cool over the summer than when he last raced in Cup too.

This whole thing happened because Diclerson and Carson Hocevar went to the 360 Knoxville Nationals the week before the 410 Knoxville Nationals. There, the owner and driver discussed options to drive the No. 77 Truck full-time next year, and landed on Kahne.

The beauty of this, for Kahne, is that there are no expectations. He hasn’t raced full-time in NASCAR since 2018 and Dickerson just wanted to create a cool story. It either works out and Kahne wins a lot or it doesn’t, they had a good time, and made some memories together.

“I haven’t spoken to Jeff one bit about that,” Kahne said of expectations. “He talked about this season, and to me, I was just really happy and thought it was an awesome opportunity for one year, and that’s where my mind’s at right now.

“It hasn’t went any further than that. But yeah, I think results and how I enjoy it, how they enjoy it, just how it all goes, that will decide what we do in the future. But yeah, I think we’re both just happy with doing one strong year together.”

Kahne will also continue racing Sprint Cars on occasion next year — mostly with the championship-winning Kasey Kahne Racing organization.

“I feel like I’ll do pretty similar to what I did this year in my own car,” Kahne said. “I did 10 races for Macri Motorsports (when Anthony Macri got injured) early in the year that just came out of nowhere and got that opportunity and felt like I learned a lot and had a great time racing with those guys.

“But yeah, my car, I think I’ve done 24 or 22, somewhere in there. And then we have four more Lakeside, Kansas this weekend and then Texas next weekend, and that’s what we’re going to do this year.

“So I feel like I can do pretty similar to what I did in my own car this year and plus the full truck series.”

The biggest change for Kahne to overcome is a Truck Series that is radically different than the one that he moonlighted in for a handful of starts over a decade ago. These trucks now have far more downforce and far less power.

There will be an acclimation phase for him to overcome.

“Yeah, I think that side of it’ll definitely be a good bit different,” Kahne said. “I’ve never driven alone with this engine package as far as I know. I talked to Chase Elliot a little bit after he ran Wilkesboro and yeah, he had good things to say about it.

“So I went along with that and yeah, I feel good about trying to see what they’re like and the differences. I won’t really know until I drive it myself, I guess, to understand and feel that stuff. But I think a lot of it’ll still be fairly similar to what I drove years ago.”