2020 Panini Nascar Chronicles Cards Unboxing PACK 12 of 24

Panini comes out every year with a “super premium” series of Nascar cards, chock full of memorabilia pieces, autographs, and rookie cards.  This year its the Chronicles Series.  Join me as we unbox, unwrap, and unpack six “Blaster Boxes” worth of cards!

PACK 12—Cowboy Hat, Sponsor Cat, and Pieces of That

FIRST THING’S FIRST: Another memorabilia piece!  This time its from Paul Menard, and its a twofer.  Richard Petty helps balance out two Cup roomies and a relatively anonymous developmental driver.

TO THE BACK: Doubt its on purpose, but this picture shows a rarely-seen pair in Nascar—Richard Petty’s eyes—from behind those famous shades.

WHAT WERE THEY THINKING: “Let me just adjust my imaginary cufflinks.”

FINAL SCORE: 7 pounds of air out of 10

 

2020 Panini Nascar Chronicles Cards Unboxing PACK 11 of 24

Panini comes out every year with a “super premium” series of Nascar cards, chock full of memorabilia pieces, autographs, and rookie cards.  This year its the Chronicles Series.  Join me as we unbox, unwrap, and unpack six “Blaster Boxes” worth of cards!

PACK 11—Byron, Ascension, and Illusion(s)

FIRST THING’S FIRST: Plenty of young talent here—well, two are the same guy, but still.  I also love the background on Chase Elliott’s “Ascension” card—gives it a real “In Living Color’s 2nd intro” feel to it.

TO THE BACK: What would Ryan Blaney be doing if he wasn’t a race car driver?  Here’s a wild suggestion—working on a race crew.

WHAT WERE THEY THINKING: “Me?  A hot tub salesman?  Well, at least it beats clamming.”

FINAL SCORE: 5 gauges out of 10.

2020 Panini Nascar Chronicles Cards Unboxing PACK 10 of 24

Panini comes out every year with a “super premium” series of Nascar cards, chock full of memorabilia pieces, autographs, and rookie cards.  This year its the Chronicles Series.  Join me as we unbox, unwrap, and unpack six “Blaster Boxes” worth of cards!

PACK 10—Old School Fun and 1 in a Shining Sun

FIRST THING’S FIRST: I really dig the 90’s style colors on the 90’s style throwback card for Zane Smith.  Beyond that I can’t stand the amount of glare that seems to come in on the bottom left card of every group.  Maybe I should’ve taken that high school photography course instead of pottery…

TO THE BACK: I’ve reached the age where I no longer comment on people’s hair because I have zero idea what the current trends are.  Although I guess THIS counts as a comment too.

WHAT WERE THEY THINKING: “OK, photographer—make me look like I belong in a swirling reflective mass.”

FINAL SCORE: 4 tire marbles out of 10

52 Pickup Racing Driver T.B. Dee Guests on Podcast

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (Boogertown, North Carolina)

In today’s NASCAR, exposure for your driver is the name of the game.  That’s why last week 52 Pickup Racing’s T.B. Dee, driver of the #52 Monday Cigarettes race car, guested on The Racing Review Podcast with Rick Shields, the only podcast available exclusively on Real Audio.

“Plenty of my fellow racing podcasters use flash-in-the-pan services like Stitcher or Podbean, but we know that Real Audio is a service that (BUFFERING)”, Shields said in his introduction to his interview with Dee.

“Now, T.B., you kind of came out of nowhere, tell us a little about your past”, Shields asked of the driver, who replied with “Well I came up through the Southern United Challenger Kings Series (SUCKS) and the Birmingham-Leeds Outlaw World Series (BLOWS).  Then 52 Pickup Racing co-owner Frankie Pack called (BUFFERING)”.

The two discussed a wide variety of issues throughout the hour-long interview, including the difficulties of racing as an independent team in 2021, (BUFFERING), and the necessity of business relationships to keep competing.

“I might not be a professional writer.  I might not be in the racing industry.  I might not even (BUFFERING).  But I have watching virtually every race since 2017, and I think that makes me pretty qualified to comment, criticize, and give advice on the sport.

“(BUFFERING)”, Shields added.

QUOTES: “I don’t know why, but suddenly I feel compelled to buff-wax my car” —T.B. Dee, driver of the 52 Pickup Racing Monday Cigarettes race car.

“That’s nice that he mentioned my name—now can we please get back to patching the roof on the race shop?” —Frankie Pack, co-owner of 52 Pickup Racing.

ABOUT 52 PICKUP RACING: 52 Pickup Racing is NASCAR Cup’s newest race team.  Based out of Boogertown North Carolina, the team employs up-and-coming driver T.B. Dee and has been contacted recently by several very-promising pyramid schemes.

For more information please visit the 52 Pickup Racing website at www.52pickupracing.com

For all media inquiries please contact Moxoc Media at moxoc(at)moxoc.com

Going Old School—Not Just for Nascar

This weekend sees Nascar running a Cup race on a dirt surface for the first time since 1970.  With unprecedented attention being focused on this single race weekend, other sports leagues are looking at “turning back the clock” next season in ways beyond simple throwback uniforms.  Here’s some concepts other organizations have proposed for “getting back to their roots”:

Major League Baseball: “Olde Tyme Base Ball Weekend”—three-game series across the majors with fifteen man rosters strictly enforced.  A maximum of two pitchers per game per side is expected to keep scoring in the low-triple-digits.

National Football League: “Heritage Week”—all Week 2 matchups will be played on Sunday afternoons within the Northeast-Midwest regions.  Leather helmets will be mandatory, though player safety will be enhanced by forcing every player to down a 12-pack of beer before each quarter.

National Basketball Association: “1948 Rewind Night”—no players over 7-foot tall allowed.  At least one player per team at any one time must be wearing coke-bottle glasses.  And set shots Set Shots SET SHOTS!

National Hockey League: “Original Six Celebration”—NBC will only show matchups from the “Original Six” teams.  So, basically the usual.

College Football: “A Dandy Weekend”—The Ivy League will feature the kind of college football you’d have seen in 1890.  Flying wedges will be allowed, no forward passes, and half the participants will be guys in their late-20’s playing under assumed names.

IndyCar: “Time Travel Sunday”—Tony George attempts to go back to 1993 and prevent his past self from creating the IRL.  Unfortunately his past-self laughs uproariously at the concept of Nascar being more popular.

Uncle Max vs. Repeat Winners: Bristol Dirt Races

Well, inventory is FINALLY done at work, and thankfully there were no big disasters.  In times like these you have to seek out the positives in life.  So even though I’m stuck in a dead-end job and live in a crummy townhouse and have a car that leaks oil and don’t have a girlfriend and don’t have a lot of money and keep staring at a March Madness bracket that’s in tatters thanks to Oral Roberts, I can say that life is pretty ok.

However I need to keep it short as I’m setting up a nice little late Christmas gift for myself—a brand-new refurbished big-screen tv.  Thanks stimulus money!

NOTE—all picks are made before heat races.

XFINITY SERIES: off

Saturday Night TRUCK SERIES Pinty’s Dirt Race: Kyle Larson—too hard to pick against him this weekend.

Sunday Afternoon CUP SERIES Food City Dirt Race. Repeat winner—Ryan Blaney. FAVORITE: Kyle Larson—see above. NEXT FAVORITE: Austin Dillon—he’s shown some speed on dirt.  DARK HORSE (1 win): Stewart Friesen—instead of road course ringers its dirt track devils.

2020 Panini Nascar Chronicles Cards Unboxing PACK 9 of 24

Panini comes out every year with a “super premium” series of Nascar cards, chock full of memorabilia pieces, autographs, and rookie cards.  This year its the Chronicles Series.  Join me as we unbox, unwrap, and unpack six “Blaster Boxes” worth of cards!

PACK 9—Deegan, Bowman, and Self-Sponsored Man

FIRST THING’S FIRST: Here’s a pattern from this set—lots of Hailie Deegan.  Makes sense since she’s the brightest rookie around (in terms of new to Nascar racing) but it also reminds me why cards have lost their luster as collectables.  “You like tough to find pieces?  Well here’s lots of easy to find tough to find pieces!”

TO THE BACK: Alex Bowman seems like a cool guy, but this quote here makes him sound like the King of Dullsville.  I’m expecting him to follow it up with “You lose 100% of the races you don’t enter” or “Teams win races.”

WHAT WERE THEY THINKING: “Hi I’m Bret Holmes for Bret Holmes Racing, your #1 source for Bret Holmes and Bret Holmes-adjacent Racing information.”

FINAL SCORE: 5 cookie cutter tracks out of 10.

52 Pickup Racing to Run Big Daddy’s BBQ Sauce Throwback Scheme at Darlington

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (Boogertown, North Carolina)

While a brand-new race team, 52 Pickup Racing is all about honoring the rich history of NASCAR racing.  That’s why it is thrilled to announce that at the annual “throwback” race at Darlington they will be running with sponsorship from legendary NASCAR partner Big Daddy’s BBQ Sauce.

“You can’t tell the story of sponsorship in NASCAR without talking about Big Daddy’s BBQ Sauce”, said 52 Pickup Racing co-owner Herb Cobb, one of the fifty-two co-owners of the team.  “The bright yellow colors and the cherubic face of “Big Daddy” have been on numerous race cars and tracks throughout the sport in the late-1990’s, and now they’ll be making their big comeback to the sport with us.”

“Big Daddy’s BBQ Sauce IS racing”, said T.B. Dee, driver of the 52 Pickup Racing race car.  “I mean, you search for it online and all you get are racing stories.  I didn’t get much of a chance to read them but that many people talking about your sponsorship deals has to be good.”

The Oklahoma-based sauce maker sponsored cars in such diverse racing series as NASCAR Cup, the ASA, NHRA, and the IRL.  Legendary drivers such as Mike Harmon and Davy Jones have been amongst those contracted to advertise the iconic brand.

“Its really a chance to reconnect with a lost part of NASCAR”, said Dee.  “Back when anybody could come up with a concoction of their own, give a check to a race team, and see their colors flying around the track at 150mph.  Back when a sponsor’s word was their bond.  Well, at Darlington we bring it back!”

QUOTES: “I put their sauce on all my favorite meals—leftover pizza, leftover Chinese, leftover subs, leftover leftovers, you name it!” —T.B. Dee, driver of the 52 Pickup Racing Monday Cigarettes race car.

“We even got stock in the company.  Now that’s what I call classy.” —Herb Cobb, co-owner of 52 Pickup Racing.

ABOUT 52 PICKUP RACING: 52 Pickup Racing is NASCAR Cup’s newest race team.  Based out of Boogertown North Carolina, the team employs up-and-coming driver T.B. Dee and is planning on opening their race shop to an open house on September 31st.

For more information please visit the 52 Pickup Racing website at www.52pickupracing.com

For all media inquiries please contact Moxoc Media at moxoc(at)moxoc.com

Kyle Busch Reveals Evil Plan to Destroy Truck Series

In Victory Lane after another dominating win in the Nascar Truck Series, Kyle Busch finally revealed his reason for constantly competing in the “minor league” series.  In a stunningly candid interview, the sixty-time race winner admitted that it is part of a long-term master plan to destroy the series for not allowing him to race there until he was 18 years old.

Just ignore the Bud decal

“Oh, this all goes back to California (Speedway) in 2001”, Busch said, rubbing his hands together sinisterly.  “Nascar didn’t let me race because I was too young.  Well, I made a promise to myself that day that, if I ever had the ability to do so, I would work my hardest to destroy the Truck Series from the inside out.”

Busch, who snickered nefariously between his statements, was referring to when he was disallowed from further competition in the Truck Series until he was of legal adult age, due to prevalent tobacco sponsorship and the recent “Master Settlement”.  The age minimum was put into effect shortly afterwards, though it has since been partially rescinded.

“When they let young kids run again, that just made me even angrier”, Busch said, his voice occasionally crackling with rage.  “Nascar can put any restriction they want in my way—I won’t rest until I have ruined this series with my domination.  And there’s NOTHING else they can do to stop me!”

Despite limited appearances for his self-owned Kyle Busch Motorsports team, Busch has frequently put on shows like on Saturday, where he leads the majority of the race, then wins, with his teammates filling out numerous spots in the top-ten.

“By the time I’m finished, this series will be little more than charred ruins.  Nascar picked the wrong teenager to mess with twenty years ago.  The Truck Series is doomed.  Doomed!  DOOMED!!!”, Busch shouted, then punctuated with an evil laugh.

When pressed for reasons WHY he wanted to destroy a national touring series, Busch reminded the assembled media “hey, did you SEE how back the American Speed Association was back then?”

Uncle Max vs. Repeat Winners: Atlanta

With the start to this season being stranger than ever, its not much use trying to figure it out yet.  So instead, here’s Uncle Max’s advice for running a March Madness Pool at work:

—Get the money up front.  This way you don’t spend the next three months trying to track down Jerry from Human Resources who never carries cash to work.

—If you’re NOT playing for money, make sure something fun is at stake, like a day off from work or a good parking spot.  If not Freddy the night guy will just pick four 16-seeds to go to the Final Four again.

—One entry per person!  Kris wants to enter seven brackets for free?  Well, maybe Kris should try running things next year and see how SHE likes it!

—Doing things online is by far the easiest way to do things, but maybe offer a paper entry you can enter manually to some of the older employees.  Everybody likes Joe the security guard, even though you wonder how a 67-year-old could stop a robber.

—Post updates either on a text chain or on the employee information bulletin board, just make sure that one assistant manager doesn’t staple an overtime sign-up sheet over it every day.

—As always, make sure you have fun—with inventory coming up next weekend, you could use a diversion!

Saturday Afternoon TRUCK SERIES FR8 Auctions 200: John Hunter Nemechek—a nice return to winning form.

Saturday Evening XFINITY SERIES EchoPark 250: AJ Allmendinger—staking his claim to the 2022 Kaulig Racing Cup Ride (yep, Silly Season has already started!).

Sunday Afternoon CUP SERIES QT Folds of Honor 500. Repeat winner—Martin Truex Jr. FAVORITE: Denny Hamlin—who’d have thought we could have three JGR winners and Kyle Busch wouldn’t be one of them? NEXT FAVORITE: Chase Elliott—home win.  Even though he…kinda actually grew up in Vail.  DARK HORSE (1 win): Bubba Wallace—if he wins, you’ll be able to tell who the idiots are by who says it was fixed.

2020 Panini Nascar Chronicles Cards Unboxing PACK 8 of 24

Panini comes out every year with a “super premium” series of Nascar cards, chock full of memorabilia pieces, autographs, and rookie cards.  This year its the Chronicles Series.  Join me as we unbox, unwrap, and unpack six “Blaster Boxes” worth of cards!

PACK 8—Core, Rewards, and a Look at the Store

FIRST THING’S FIRST: A pretty disappointing pack seems to be redeemed by 150 Panini Rewards Points—AT FIRST.  To be honest the Rewards Store is full of, well, less-than-optimal cards to choose from, unless you have a burning passion to own a bunch of Landon Cassill or Jeb Burton memorabilia cards.

TO THE BACK: OK, let me try wrapping my head around that idea.  Done.  Why is it so hard to understand the concept of age?

WHAT WERE THEY THINKING: “Man, I got it all—a cool career, a forward-thinking sponsor, and decent facial hair.  Now if I could only get a Rookie Card graphic that looks like a codpiece.”

FINAL SCORE: 1 bonus point out of 10.

ZLoop Latest Company to Join 52 Pickup Racing Team as Sponsor

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (Boogertown, North Carolina)

There was more good news for 52 Pickup Racing today, as in addition to driver T.B. Dee finding his missing car keys (they were in the port-o-potty), electronics recycling giant Zloop was introduced as the team’s latest sponsorship partner for 2021.

“We’re all about the future here at 52 Pickup Racing”, said Jay H. Dean, one of the fifty-two co-owners of 52 Pickup Racing, “and there’s nothing more futuristic than recycling AND electronics.  Although I don’t know why I can’t find any up-to-date information about them online, I’m sure its because they’re just really busy with their business activities.”

The company, which previously had backed the career of developmental driver Justin Boston, is re-entering the sport at a time when there’s a greater focus than ever on sustainability and reducing one’s footprint.

“We go through lots of stuff here at the race shop—heck, I just turned in a bunch of old Qualcomm phones to be recycled”, said T.B. Dee, driver of the Zloop/Monday Cigarettes race car.  “We all want to make sure we’re lessening our impact on the planet, and Zloop seems to be doing that better than most by not having a single physical location!”

Details about the sponsorship, such as what races Zloop will be featured on the car, will be revealed at a later date.

QUOTES: “At last, a place to drop off all my old USB chargers.” —T.B. Dee, driver of the 52 Pickup Racing Monday Cigarettes race car.

“We haven’t actually met the executive team yet, but I hear they have a luxury suite at the Carolina Panthers stadium, so they must be a big deal.” —Jay H. Dean, co-owner of 52 Pickup Racing.

ABOUT 52 PICKUP RACING: 52 Pickup Racing is NASCAR Cup’s newest race team.  Based out of Boogertown North Carolina, the team employs up-and-coming driver T.B. Dee and can be reached around lunch time at the Boogertown Diner huddled around their signature “Ham and Bacon Sammich Platter”.

For more information please visit the 52 Pickup Racing website at www.52pickupracing.com

For all media inquiries please contact Moxoc Media at moxoc(at)moxoc.com

Conspiracy Theorists Spreading Rumor that Anthony Alfredo Doesn’t Exist

Much of the Nascar world has been surprised to learn that John Hunter Nemechek was replaced by Anthony Alfredo—a driver without a single full season in Cup, Xfinity, or Trucks—at Front Row Motorsports.  Now certain fans on the fringes of the sport have put through a new explanation—that Alfredo doesn’t actually exist.

“Oh come on, everybody knows that ‘Anthony Alfredo’ is just a figment of (Front Row Motorsports team owner) Bob Jenkins’ imagination”, said “DiBurritoFan” in a post on Reddit.  “They wanted to run a bunch of different drivers for cheap, but they wanted the attention that comes with a rookie (of the year) campaign, so they created a driver out of thin air.”

“Totally—this conspiracy goes back years”, said fellow Reddit user “HamlinSux” in reply to “DiBurritoFan”’s topic.  “DGR-Crosley has been working on a robot driver for a long time, and they created this ‘Anthony Alfredo’ character to allow them to beta test it back in 2019.  Once they realized it didn’t work, they sold it to RCR who put it in their Xfinity car last year.  All the answers are out there if you know where to look.”

Certain fans have also found ways to rectify Alfredo’s robust online presence and success in the East Series.

“Oh come on, anybody can make up an online persona”, said Twitter user @Rowdy4Prez in a recent post.  “Heck, I used to have an online relationship with a woman claiming to be Elliott Sadler’s ex-girlfriend.”

“Everybody’s almost got the truth—Anthony Alfredo is real, but he hasn’t raced since 2018”, said “JoshWiseMuchWinWow” in a comment on an NBCSports article on Alfredo’s hiring.  “He quit to go back to land development, but to finance his latest project he sold the rights to his persona to a shady motorsports management organization.  Its kinda like when Dale Jr. lost the rights to his name and likeness, only much, much, much less important.”

For their part, Front Row Motorsports made several team employees available to corroborate Alfredo’s existence.  However, with Alfredo himself being unavailable for comment, it is Spade Racing’s belief that he doesn’t exist at all.  I mean really, what kind of name is “Anthony Alfredo” anyways?

Uncle Max vs. Repeat Winners: Phoenix

Finally, a win!

Even more impressive it was a Dark Horse pick—my first Dark Horse to come through in over a year!  For those of you wondering a “Dark Horse” is someone not expected to win—so basically any driver who hasn’t won yet outside of fuel milage or a plate track who also isn’t a championship contender.  Of course this puts Larson squarely in the “contender” category so he’s no longer eligible for Dark Horse consideration.

Speaking of which there’s been four Dark Horse-worthy winners so far this year.  At this rate I’ll be picking Anthony Alfredo or James Davison for the ROVAL race!

Outside of Nascar I’m getting ready for two big events at work—inventory (dun dun DUNNN) and my own little informal March Madness pool.  I convinced (well, badgered) one of the big bosses to let me do it for no money with nothing but bragging rights on the line.  Ya gotta make do!

TRUCK SERIES off

Saturday Evening XFINITY SERIES 811 200: Daniel Hemric—from the pole in a 200 lap race—although a 811 lapper would be interesting(ly dull).

Sunday Afternoon CUP SERIES Instacart 500(k). Repeat winner—Kyle Larson. FAVORITE: Kevin Harvick—just too hard to pick against him at Phoenix—especially with a legit shot at a repeat winner. NEXT FAVORITE: Brad Keselowski—two wins from the pole in a single weekend? DARK HORSE (1 win): Austin Dillon—again, the Chevy’s are looking stout this year.

2020 Panini Nascar Chronicles Cards Unboxing PACK 7 of 24

Panini comes out every year with a “super premium” series of Nascar cards, chock full of memorabilia pieces, autographs, and rookie cards.  This year its the Chronicles Series.  Join me as we unbox, unwrap, and unpack six “Blaster Boxes” worth of cards!

PACK 7—Lotsa Blue, Ray Black Ju’, and Bowyer2

FIRST THING’S FIRST: It looks like Titan Clint Bowyer is our first repeat card.  There’s two drivers with blue in their fire suits here, along with a grayed-out Stenhouse (usually in blue) and Bubba Wallace (usually has various shades of blue).  Eiffel 65 lives.

TO THE BACK: In the first big surprise of the set, a story is told about Ray Black Jr.’s background that DOESN’T mention him SCUBA diving.

WHAT WERE THEY THINKING: “I can’t wait to take my car out for a spin, and spin out a good chunk of my competitors in the process.”

FINAL SCORE: 3 DNFs out of 10.

52 Pickup Racing Offers Free Pit Passes to Race Fans

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (Boogertown, North Carolina)

Starting today, fans of 52 Pickup Racing have a chance to enter to win free pit passes from NASCAR Cup’s hottest new race team.

“We were looking for a way to get our biggest fans involved some way”, said Carl C. Miller, one of the fifty-two co-owners of 52 Pickup Racing, “and we felt that a pit pass giveaway was the best way to give fans the chance to experience everything up close.”

Fans who enter by sharing the team’s Geocities website on the web ring of their choosing will have a chance to win two pit passes courtesy of the race team, to be used on the weekday of their choice.

“The pit behind our race shop in Boogertown (North Carolina) is getting pretty big—we needed that dirt to fill-in the sinkhole in our parking lot”, said Miller.  “But fans can still come out and hang out in the pit for as long as they’d like.  Heck, I think there’s even some groundwater seeping in down there for them to drink.”

NOTE—while the pit behind the race shop is open, the race shop itself is still closed to visitors due to the lack of a functional front door.

QUOTES: “The team made me sit in that pit for hours after I wrecked the primary car last race.  Thankfully I had an old Mad Magazine with me to pass the time.” —T.B. Dee, driver of the 52 Pickup Racing Monday Cigarettes race car.

“If its raining they might want to stay out of there—we’re using our only ladder to turn the air conditioning off and on.” —Carl C. Miller, co-owner of 52 Pickup Racing.

ABOUT 52 PICKUP RACING: 52 Pickup Racing is NASCAR Cup’s newest race team.  Based out of Boogertown North Carolina, the team employs up-and-coming driver T.B. Dee and held its first-ever Employee/Intern/Volunteer Appreciation Day on February 30th.

For more information please visit the 52 Pickup Racing website at www.52pickupracing.com

For all media inquiries please contact Moxoc Media at moxoc(at)moxoc.com

For Hero Card Requests, please send a self-addressed stamped envelope to the address below:

52 Pickup Racing

Attn: Hero Card Request

3911 Concord Pike

PO Box 7795

Wilmington DE 19803

Spade Racing Presents The Sophomores: MARCH RANKINGS

Last year Spade Racing took a look at the six drivers competing for Rookie of the Year.  This year we continue to look at that vaunted class (sans John Hunter Nemechek and Brennan Poole) as they strive to establish themselves while avoiding the “sophomore slump”.  Returning for 2021 is the PRETTY grade: Performance Relative to Equating Team’s Typical Year (its pretty much how well each driver is doing considering their equipment).  Here’s how things look going into Las Vegas:

1. Christopher Bell (Joe Gibbs Racing).  Best finish: 1st (Daytona Road Course).  PRETTY grade: A-.  C.Bell rebounded from a so-so Daytona 500 with a breakthrough win on the Daytona Road Course, rocketing him to the top of the Spade Racing Sophomores Rankings.  I’d send him a trophy, but I don’t really feel like it (nor do I want to wind up with a restraining order…again).

2. Cole Custer (Stewart Haas Racing). Best finish: 11th (Daytona).  PRETTY grade: B+.  SHR has often seemed like “Harvick and the rest”, but Cole’s had a solid (if not spectacular) start to the season, well-outpacing teammates Chase Briscoe and that other guy who seems to really like bacon.

3. Tyler Reddick (Richard Childress Racing).  Best finish: 2nd (Homestead).  PRETTY grade: B-.  Were it not for a dreadful start to the season, Reddick could’ve swapped spots with Cole Custer on the back of his 2nd place finish last week.  Its like waking up, stubbing your toe, waiting forever for the shower to turn hot, running out of toothpaste, and spilling something on your shirt, only to then get to work and get two Pop-Tarts out of the vending machine instead of one.

4. Quin Houff (StarCom Racing).  Best finish: 29th (Daytona).  PRETTY grade: D-.  A top-twenty race finish would be a major breakthrough for the StarCom Racing team, but it remains to be seen if their poor performance is the car or the driver.  Eh, probably both.

NOTE: Brennan Poole seems to not be racing this year in Cup—or any Nascar Series for that matter.  Looks like “The Bull” Brennan Poole got “The Horns” of Nascar’s business side and is regrouping by working as a commentator (I believe that’s either “The Left Shin” or “The Spleen”).

Uncle Max vs. Repeat Winners: Las Vegas

This...has not been a good start to the season. Three weeks in and not a single win to be had. Sure, there haven’t been any repeat winners either, but it’s well below my standards. 

Speaking of which, I’ve been getting hit pretty hard at work lately. Sales are down across the board, and of course someone has to take the fall. Thankfully that someone isn’t me—yet. The axes keep falling and every time the breeze gets stronger and stronger. 

Sorry for the harsh reality, but when work AND gambling aren’t working out—and one’s dating life is cramped more than usual—there’s not much good to speak of. 

Friday Night TRUCK SERIES Bucked Up 200: Kyle Busch—gotta go with chalk to get off the schnide. 

Saturday Evening XFINITY SERIES Alsco 300: Austin Cindric—would be cool if he could sweep all 12 or so Alsco-sponsored Xfinity races. 

Sunday Afternoon CUP SERIES Pennzoil 400. Repeat winner—William Byron. FAVORITE: Kyle Busch—hometown win in that weird Ethel sponsored car. NEXT FAVORITE: Chase Elliott—hey, the Chevy’s are looking good so far. DARK HORSE: Kyle Larson—time for a breakthrough. 

2020 Panini Nascar Chronicles Cards Unboxing PACK 6 of 24

Panini comes out every year with a “super premium” series of Nascar cards, chock full of memorabilia pieces, autographs, and rookie cards.  This year its the Chronicles Series.  Join me as we unbox, unwrap, and unpack six “Blaster Boxes” worth of cards!

PACK 6—McLaughlin, JHN, and shiny, shiny Gilliland

FIRST THING’S FIRST: A rare “Spectra” card of Todd Gilliland highlights this pack.  Its extra-thick—the card, not Todd—and is complemented by a pair of young ‘uns and a pair of veterans.  Yes, we’ve reached the point where Chase Elliott is a veteran driver—deal with it.

TO THE BACK: Lucky number 13 of 49 here.  So of the 49 of these cards in existence, I own more than 2% of them.

WHAT WERE THEY THINKING: “I sure am glad that the design of my uniform makes it look like I’m a giant white pair of needle-nose pliers”.

FINAL SCORE: 7 hot laps out of 10.

T.B. Dee Wins “Race Within the Race” for 52 Pickup Racing

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (Boogertown, North Carolina)

Its been a long learning experience for T.B. Dee, NASCAR Cup Series rookie for brand new 52 Pickup Racing.  However, there have been some highlights, difficult to spot as they are, such as winning ‘The Race Within the Race’.

“We look for small victories, and winning ‘The Race Within the Race’ is definitely one of them”, Dee said after the most recent Cup race, where he finished 35th.  “For instance, from lap 38-45, we were the fourteenth fastest car on-track.  That’s really something to feel good about.”

“We’re pleased with what we’ve seen so far”, said Charley O’Leary, one of the fifty-two co-owners of 52 Pickup Racing.  “Like a few races ago where we managed to match lap times with teams like Joe Gibbs Racing and Team Penske.  Granted, it was under caution, but it proves we can compete under the right circumstances.”

Dee was quick to point out that despite such small victories, he will not rest of his laurels.

“Going forward, we hope to win even more ‘Races Within the Races’, like being fastest off pit road without a penalty, or even being the first to unload our pit box for the weekend.”, Dee said.  “If you look close enough, you can see that we’re at or better than where we were last year.  Sure, we didn’t run last year, but that’s still a good baseline.”

QUOTES: “Racing’s all about the little battles you have to win to get to the track, like having exact change for the toll booth or finding a 2 for $2 burger deal.” —T.B. Dee, driver of the 52 Pickup Racing Monday Cigarettes race car.

“We might not win every ‘Race Within the Race’, but we can at least finish on the lead lap…of the ‘Race Within the Race’, that is.” —Charley O’Leary, co-owner of 52 Pickup Racing.

ABOUT 52 PICKUP RACING: 52 Pickup Racing is NASCAR Cup’s newest race team.  Based out of Boogertown North Carolina, the team employs up-and-coming driver T.B. Dee and is taking applications for a new shop cat to scare off mice, entertain visitors, and do some light typing.

For more information please visit the 52 Pickup Racing website at www.52pickupracing.com

For all media inquiries please contact Moxoc Media at moxoc(at)moxoc.com

For Hero Card Requests, please send a self-addressed stamped envelope to the address below:

52 Pickup Racing

Attn: Hero Card Request

3911 Concord Pike

PO Box 7795

Wilmington DE 19803