Kasey Kahne won’t be inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame anytime soon. Does that mean the retiring driver didn’t accomplish a ton in his career?
Hardly.
The 38-year-old racer, who was forced to retire prematurely from the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series this year due to health problems, received plenty of well-wishes from those in the sport but nothing formal on behalf of NASCAR itself prior to the end of the season. When reporter Jeff Gluck and spotter Brett Griffin brought attention to that, most fans supported the notion that Kahne deserved some sort of gesture.
A few disagreed, arguing that 18 career victories, 27 poles, 93 top-five finishes and 176 top-10s didn’t warrant special recognition.
The most notable dissenter was a Twitter user by the name of D. Zook.
He took a beating for this in his @mentions, but none of the hits were bigger than the one landed by Kahne himself, who tweeted a photo of himself standing in front of a fully stocked trophy cabinet.
Kahne’s online friskiness was somewhat out of character, since he’s generally been known for his reserved demeanor since entering the sport in 2003. Considering he had to retire because of difficulty regulating his heart rate and body temperature while racing, it’s good to know Kahne feels feisty enough to clap back at a troll.
Also, you’ve got to respect the skeptical fan for sticking to his guns after getting called every name in the book on Twitter.
Plenty of people in the same situation would delete their accounts and shrink away once their newfound online infamy had spread. Give credit to Mr. Zook for standing his ground — and even dragging Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Andy Dalton into the whole thing to boot.
