Kasey Kahne’s future with Hendrick Motorsports uncertain despite Brickyard 400 win

One of NASCAR’s marquee races, the Brickyard 400, is a win every driver covets and can point to as a significant accomplishment.

Meaning that wasn’t lost on Kasey Kahne, the winner Sunday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, who holds great reverence for the venerable facility. As a young man the Enumclaw, Wash., native moved to the Indianapolis area for three years to further his career, dreaming of one day winning at the track that is among the most iconic in all of racing.

But while the victory is stellar and Kahne deserves praise for prevailing in a chaotic race and overcoming severe cramping where he required intravenous fluids in the infield medical care center almost immediately afterward, what the win does not do is provide clarity to his tenuous situation with Hendrick Motorsports.

Kahne, 37, is facing a pivotal time, at a career crossroads where Hendrick is undecided about its 2018 plans relating to Kahne and the No. 5 team. Uncertainty that isn’t unwarranted. Before Sunday, it had been nearly three years since he last celebrated in victory lane, a 102-race stretch of futility that the driver associated with Hendrick cannot endure without his job status being called into question.

“Hear a lot of things, but tough to say exactly what’s going to happen because I don’t know at this point this time,” Kahne said. “But I think this just shows that I want to do it, and that I still have the drive and passion to do it, and I enjoy it.”

For Kahne, the questions about his employment began last year and only intensified this season. Race after race passed with no substantial signs that the plummet from a driver who won and finished well regularly to a driver who couldn’t win and lacked consistency had been corrected.

The reasons for the tailspin were many and no one individual was to blame. Nonetheless, the reality is that Kahne wasn’t performing to expectations. An already stressful situation was made all the more so when his two biggest primary sponsors, Farmer’s Insurance and Great Clips, announced earlier this season that they are leaving at the end of the year.

Speculation has increased in recent months that a change was imminent — Hendrick would buyout Kahne’s contract, which had a year remaining, and either promote in-house young prodigy, William Byron, or sign a veteran like Matt Kenseth as a bridge until Byron was fully ready.

How this all plays out is still to be determined, an already complicated situation made more so with the Brickyard 400 offering proof Kahne can still win at NASCAR’s highest level and on a big stage. But even if a company is enticed by what unfolded Sunday, allowing Kahne fulfill the final year of his contract with Hendrick, he’ll continue residing in limbo. Assuredly the 19-year-old Byron, who’s won three of the past five Xfinity Series races, will take Kahne’s roster spot in 2019.

“There’s nothing concrete or done,” team owner Rick Hendrick said Sunday night. “We’ll see how things shake out the rest of the year. There’s a lot of things involved, sponsors and a lot of things we look at. We’re going to try hard. But there’s no decisions made at this time.”

All of which is why the distinct possibility remains that Kahne’s tenure with Hendrick doesn’t continue past this season. A lack of sponsorship on the No. 5 car combined with Byron’s stock continuing to soar, are factors that even earning the opportunity to kiss Indianapolis’ iconic bricks cannot overcome.