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Kasey Kahne: I need to leave if I'm not performing by 2018

Kahne is currently 18th in the points standings (Getty Images).
Kahne is currently 18th in the points standings (Getty Images).

Kasey Kahne was blunt when talking about his struggles on Wednesday.

Kahne’s contract with Hendrick Motorsports runs through 2018 and said that if he’s not competitive by the end of his deal, then it’s time to move on.

“If I haven’t performed by 2018, I need to leave,” Kahne said via USA Today Sports. “It’s pretty simple. So that will have nothing to do with William Byron or anyone else. If I haven’t performed by then, it’s time to go do something different.”

Byron, who has won five races in the Camping World Truck Series this season, signed a contract with Hendrick Motorsports last week. He’ll drive in the Xfinity Series for JR Motorsports in 2017. There’s no place at HMS for him currently with Kahne, Chase Elliott, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Jimmie Johnson occupying the team’s four Sprint Cup cars.

Kahne is currently outside the Chase for the Sprint Cup. If he doesn’t get a win over the next three races or miraculously qualify for the Chase on points, he’ll miss the postseason for a second-straight season. He has just six top-10 finishes in 2016; the last time he didn’t have 10 or more top-10 finishes came in 2007.

His last win came in Atlanta in 2014 where he made the Chase with the win. He finished 15th in the standings that season and hasn’t finished in the top 10 in the points standings since his first year at Hendrick when he was fourth.

Kahne won two races in that first season with HMS and has seen his statistics decline ever since. Two years can be an eternity in NASCAR, so we’re not ruling out a rebound. But given the gradual decline in Kahne’s performance over the past few seasons, it may be an incremental move forward rather than a large one.

“It’s no fun running 13th to 17th every week. But it’s kind of just where we’re at. I don’t like it at all, but it’s where we’ve been for a period of time now.”

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Nick Bromberg is the editor of From The Marbles on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at nickbromberg@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!