"I couldn't recover": Kasey Kahne explains his tough decision to leave NASCAR

Former NASCAR Cup Series driver Kasey Kahne has opened up about the circumstances surrounding his decision to leave the world of racing behind. Kahne was suffering from severe dehydration problems, right up until his final race in Darlington.

There, the driver admitted to not being able to move his muscles all over his body and having to drive under strenuous conditions. Kahne tried to make it from weekend to weekend, but it got to a point in the year where he was unable to continue doing it sustainably.

Speaking on the podcast, Never Settle, the former Hendrick Motorsports driver also revealed that he had been seeing doctors for his condition as well as trying to recuperate, but he still didn't know the cause behind his affliction.

"It was about dehydration. As the season went on, I couldn’t recover, and I don’t know why that was. I’ve seen doctors, I was doing everything I could to recover, prior to the next race, but once it hit summertime, I would show up at the next weekend just as dehydrated as I ended the week before."

Kasey Kahne's final race as a Cup Series driver was the Bojangles' Southern 500, which took place at the Darlington Raceway in September of 2018. Driving the #95 for Leavine Family Racing, Kahne shared that he was barely able to make it through the practice session of the event, and really struggled during the race.

“Darlington was my last race, and halfway through first practice, I was already done. Like my body was already drained. I got out of the car after first practice, and my suit - it looked like I just got out of a swimming pool. It was that wet.”

"My whole body would cramp from my neck, all the way to my toes. Last half of the race at Darlington, I just laid in the right side of the seat and just drove.”

At the Darlington event, Kahne started the race in 29th place, and when the checkered flag was waved, he had finished in 24th place.

Kasey Kahne shares update about possible NASCAR return in the future

Earlier this year, Kasey Kahne piloted the #33 car for Richard Childress Racing at the NASCAR Xfinity Series event that took place at the Rockingham Speedway. Last weekend, Kahne was the honorary pace car driver for the Cup Series event at the Texas Motor Speedway, where he shared that he might be interested in another Xfinity race in the future.

NASCAR Journalist Bob Pockrass shared Kahne's words on his X (formerly Twitter) account at the time.

"Kasey Kahne, who is driving the pace car prior to the start of the race today, said he enjoyed doing Rockingham and would like to do another Xfinity race in the future, maybe that race again next year."

At the North Carolina Education Lottery 250 event, Kasey Kahne crossed the finish line to take a 14th-place finish after starting from fourth.