After six years together, Kasey Kahne and Hendrick Motorsports will part ways at the end of the 2018 season, according to a press release on the company's website.

Hendrick and Kahne will end their association one year short of the contracted period, which was due to expire at the end of the 2018 season.

"Kasey has worked extremely hard," team owner Rick Hendrick said in the release. "He's a tremendous teammate and person, and he has been totally dedicated to our program since day one. I've always believed that he's a special talent, and I know he will thrive in the right situation. We will do everything we can to finish the season as strong as we can."

While the news has been rumored for some time, it comes two weeks after Kahne snapped a 102-race winless streak to qualify for the 2017 playoffs. The No. 5 team utilized pit strategy to take and maintain the lead of the Brickyard 400 on July 23 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Kahne began his career with HMS at the beginning of the 2012 season after a couple of tough years with Ray Evernham and Red Bull Racing. With his new organization, Kahne won in his 12th start in one of the biggest races of the year: the 2012 Coca-Cola 600.

Six of Kahne's 18 career wins have come with HMS, but most of those came in the first two seasons. Since 2014, he has only two wins -- this year's Brickyard 400 and the August 2014 race at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

No announcement has been made yet about a replacement, but it is speculated that William Byron will move up from the Xfinity series.

Kahne's dismissal comes on the heels of last week's news that Stewart-Haas Racing allowed Kurt Busch's contract to expire and a recent announcement that Matt Kenseth would not return to Joe Gibbs Racing to make way for rookie Erik Jones.

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"I'd like to thank Rick and everyone at Hendrick Motorsports for their hard work and dedication, along with providing me a great opportunity and success over the last six years," Kahne said. "We won six races together and I'm coming off of one of the biggest wins of my career at the Brickyard, which has given the (No.) 5 team a lot of momentum heading into the playoffs. We still have a lot of racing left in 2017, and finishing strong is our top priority. I look forward to what the next chapter in my career holds."

The news is part of a bigger trend toward exchanging veterans for young guns. While that may come as cold comfort for a driver in his 14th year of competition at the Cup level, Kahne has more options than many. He owns a very successful sprint car team and will probably provide veteran support for an existing NASCAR team for a few more years to come.

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