There is a particular cruelty to being brilliant at nearly everything you do, and yet having one thing, just one, that refuses to yield. For Kasey Kahne, that thing was a World of Outlaws feature win. The kid from Enumclaw, Washington, began racing open-wheel sprint cars at Deming Speedway at age 17 before climbing through the USAC ranks, conquering NASCAR’s biggest stages.

He even won a non-WoO feature at Williams Grove Speedway back in 2000, the very same Pennsylvania half-mile that would eventually be the scene of his redemption. And yet, across 227 World of Outlaws starts spanning nearly three decades, a checkered flag as a driver in the series remained stubbornly out of reach. But that all finally changed on Friday night.

Kahne won at Williams Grove Speedway in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, 10, 364 days after his first World of Outlaws start at Grays Harbor Raceway. In doing so, he became the 156th different competitor to top a World of Outlaws feature, and only the third driver from the state of Washington to do so, joining Jason Solwold and Travis Jacobsen.

Kyle Larson, who is a serious dirt racing enthusiast, competitive driver, and team owner himself, couldn’t stop himself from congratulating Kahne over his achievement.

“Yeah, no, that was awesome. I was flying here so I didn’t get to watch the race live. But I’ve gotten multiple texts from people that he won. And landed in time to watch his interview to see how excited he was, how excited everybody was for him.

“You know, the fans, he, and the team. Kasey’s put a lot into this sport for sprint car racing. Yeah, he’s achieved everything you can achieve as an owner. So to have him conquer something that he has been trying to get for a long time and has been somewhat close to was really cool too. Yeah, he was fast at Lincoln the other night and did really well last night, so. It was awesome,” Larson said.

The opportunity was rather surprising, and after his victory, even Kahne was left speechless. As a team owner of Kasey Kahne Racing, he was busy preparing his own cars for the series when he was invited by Macri Motorsports to substitute for an injured Anthony Macri.

He then held off a fierce charge from Sheldon Haudenschild in the closing laps, as the pair raced door-to-door with the outside wall in a white-knuckle sequence. It was Macri Motorsports’ 10th World of Outlaws triumph, and the first with a driver other than Anthony behind the wheel.

There was another poetic layer to the win. For Macri Motorsports crew chief Joe Mooney, who had spent four years working at Kasey Kahne Racing, this night gave him the chance to repay the man who had been his biggest champion.

“It’s just badass,” Mooney said. “It’s a little bit of repaying the favor of getting to work for him (Kahne) for four years and a lot of good times. When I went to take this job and told him I was probably leaving and where I was going, he was my biggest cheerleader. It’s pretty damn cool.”

Kahne himself felt similarly about the team he found himself in: “I knew it was a special team. But you don’t realize until you’re on the inside.”

In the NASCAR Cup Series, Kahne had 18 wins across his 15-year career, which included three Coca-Cola 600s (2006, 2008, 2012) and the 2017 Brickyard 400, while driving for Evernham Motorsports, Richard Petty Motorsports, Red Bull Racing, and Hendrick Motorsports.

Across all NASCAR national series, he is also one of a rare group of drivers to have claimed victories with four different manufacturers (Dodge, Ford, Chevrolet, and Toyota). His best finish in the championship was in 2012, when he finished fourth in the Chase for the Cup during his debut season at Hendrick Motorsports.

As a team owner with Kasey Kahne Racing, he has built an even more remarkable resume: six World of Outlaws championships in total (one with Daryn Pittman in 2013 and five consecutive titles with Brad Sweet from 2019 through 2023), tying Steve Kinser for the third most owner’s championships in series history.

That said, while Kasey Kahne was able to recover from his 29-year-long wait, Kyle Larson has been waiting for more than 29 races in the NASCAR Cup Series for a victory. Will Watkins Glen be the race that finally gives him his much-needed breakthrough?

Kyle Larson sounds off on winless NASCAR streak

For the entire fandom, Kyle Larson’s performance has been a cause of worry. He may be the 2025 Cup Series champion, but he has not won a NASCAR race in the past year in the series. With the 2026 season focusing heavily on amassing the maximum points with as many victories as a driver can get, Larson’s title defense is looking as weak as it can get.

However, it doesn’t look like Larson cares too much about such statistics. In his own words, it is the media and the fans that think these numbers matter a lot.

Addressing the media ahead of the 2026 race at Watkins Glen, Larson said, “I mean, I think you guys pay attention to it way more than I pay attention to it. But yeah, obviously I would have loved to have won to this point, but we just haven’t been good enough.

“I feel like at times when we are getting really close to a win. And then at other times, I feel like we are far from getting a win. It just kind of shows how tough this series is.”

Larson was rather annoyed by the end of his interview, claiming he was trying his best to win, and it was not like he wanted to sabotage his races. At least Hendrick Motorsports’ performance is slowly getting up to the mark again. With Chase Elliott claiming two victories during the 2026 season, HMS’s solution might work out for him, too.

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