Spade Racing Opens a Box of 2023 Panini Chronicles Cards, Pack 10 of 12



PACK 10: Big Three, Not to Me, and Jumpan23


FIRST LOOK: THREE swatches from seven-time Cup champion Jimmie Johnson!  A pretty impressive haul, even if the past seven or so years of his career have been very pedestrian.  Who knew he’d turn into the next Darrell Waltrip?


TO THE BACK: Huh, I would’ve thought that the best words in racing are “you’ve” and “won”, but what do I know?


SAY WHAT?: “Every time I ask MJ why he wasn’t in NBA Jam, he just makes the ‘finger motion for money’ gesture”.


RATING: 8 dashboard gauges out of 10.



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NASCAR ROTY RANKINGS 1988: Ranking the Rookie of the Year Classes Through the Years



Runner-up Ernie Irvan
Join me as we take a look at every NASCAR Cup Rookie of the Year class from 1972 (the start of the modern era) through 2021, going from the worst to the first in terms of overall careers of each year’s rookie class.

1988

Winner: Ken Bouchard (Whitcomb).  Runners Up: Ernie Irvan (US), Brad Noffsinger (Curb).  Aborted Attempts: Jimmy Horton

How their careers turned out: Both Ken Bouchard and Brad Noffsinger had brief Cup careers that led to steady employment as driving instructors.  But Ernie Irvin, on the other hand, won the Daytona 500, nearly won the 1994 championship, and managed to make plenty of enemies along the way (including me—his “autobiography” was TERRIBLE).

“Fun” “Fact” about the winner: They were never booing, Ken.  They were shouting “BOO-chard, BOO-chard”.

Ranking: #29 out of 50


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Spade Racing presents The Hero Card Project (Part 3)





CLICK HERE FOR PART 2


On March 15th, I mailed out to every major, mid-major, and minor Nascar team in the three touring series for Hero Cards, the free glossy card-stock giveaways provided by race teams.  Last week I posted my first responses, but I got so many this past week I wanted to post what else I’ve received!  See what came in below, and click here to learn more about collecting Hero Cards 

A 2024 hero card from the Wood Brothers

An autographed card from Faction 46

Two autographed Ben Rhodes cards from ThorSport



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Dover Race Picks: Uncle Max vs. 13th Place



Ugh—I came within a few yards of the winning pick at Talladega.  To continue my roulette analogy from last week’s picks, it’s the equivalent of picking your number, having the pill bounce in and around it, only to shimmy out at the end.  Oh well—nobody likes a “bad beat story”.

With that being said, I’m glad it looks like we have a decent stretch without any “plate” races.  At least for the next few months any bad picks I make will be on ME, not on someone trying to block the rest of the field repeatedly.


TRUCK SERIES (2 wins) off


Saturday Afternoon XFINITY SERIES (2 wins) Bet Rivers 200: RYAN TRUEX—hey, its his home track too.


Sunday CUP SERIES Wurth 500: 13th Place Picks ROSS CHASTAIN.  FAVORITE (1 win): CHASE ELLIOTT—building up a head of steam for the summer push.  NEXT FAVORITE: MARTIN TRUEX JR.—building up a head of steam for a possible final full-time season.  DARK HORSE: JOHN HUNTER NEMECHEK—building up a head of steam for a million “he learned from Jimmie” stories.


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Spade Racing Opens a Box of 2023 Panini Chronicles Cards, Pack 9 of 12



PACK 9: Status, the Struggle Bus, and Hair Un-Mussed


FIRST LOOK: Ooh, a “status swatch”!  Now I’ll be able to get into the most-exclusive clubs in New York City!  “Table for one please—here’s my Ricky Stenhouse Jr. memorabilia card”.


TO THE BACK: Brittney’s had so many cards and so few results, she’s the second coming of Danica—just much less annoying.


SAY WHAT?: “My hair doubles as a crash helmet”


RATING: 7 pace laps out of 10.



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NASCAR ROTY RANKINGS 1987: Ranking the Rookie of the Year Classes Through the Years



Davey Allison
Join me as we take a look at every NASCAR Cup Rookie of the Year class from 1972 (the start of the modern era) through 2021, going from the worst to the first in terms of overall careers of each year’s rookie class.

1987

Winner: Davey Allison (Ranier-Lundy).  Runners Up: Dale Jarrett (Freedlander), Steve Christman (Winkle), Derrike Cope (Stoke).  Aborted Attempts: Jerry Cranmer, Rodney Combs

How their careers turned out: Five Daytona 500 wins and a Cup championship highlight this sneaky-good class.  And while Davey Allison’s career was tragically cut short, Dale Jarrett was arguably the best “late bloomer” in Cup, posting his first win well into his 30s.  Meanwhile, Derrike Cope got the looks, and Steve Christman may or may not have actually existed.

“Fun” “Fact” about the winner: Experts put it at roughly 1997 when Davey Allison would’ve finally requested that people just call him Dave or David.

Ranking: #8 out of 50



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CLOSE CALLS—Nascar’s Closest Finishes


(note: not affiliated with Close Call—don’t @ me, Brett Bodine fans)

Nascar has seen a spate of close finishes to start this season, so it got me thinking—what were the three closest finishes in each national touring series?  Well, according to Wikipedia, here they are (notes: all since 1993, the year Nascar started timing races electronically, and all pictures are courtesy of Wikipedia):


CUP SERIES

1 (tie). 2003 Carolina Dodge Dealers 400 (Darlington), Ricky Craven over Kurt Busch by 0.002 seconds.  Ok, you probably knew what this would be, but still, let’s remember how cool this win was.  You had a likable journeyman in Ricky Craven winning Pontiac’s last race against a member of the Roush Racing juggernaut (yes, they were a big deal back then), complete with beatin’ and bangin’.  Even better, both drivers were cool with each other post-race, and have loved reliving it since. And NO—just because some races end with a Hendrick driver running away from the field, that doesn’t mean that Nascar is “broken”.


1 (tie). 2011 Aaron’s 499 (Talladega), Jimmie Johnson over Clint Bowyer by 0.002 seconds.  It’s no surprise to see Talladega on here, just like it’s no surprise to see Jimmie Johnson—former possessor of the “golden horseshoe”—having come out on top.  The lack of rubbing fenders (which could’ve been dangerous at ‘Dega) likely keeps this race from being as memorable as Darlington in 2003, as does the participation of professional irritant/race-manipulator Clint Bowyer.


3. 2024 Ambetter Health 400 (Atlanta), Daniel Suarez over Ryan Blaney by 0.003 seconds.  A blink-and-you-miss-it margin of victory from earlier this season.  At the time it stood out as one of a string of exciting finishes to start the year.  But by the fall it might stand out as one of the only wins by a non-Hendrick, non-Gibbs driver (and NO, it’s not fixed).



XFINITY SERIES

1. 2018 PowerShares QQQ 300 (Daytona), Tyler Reddick over Elliott Sadler by 0.0004 seconds.  This race was a record-setter in multiple ways—not only was it the closest finish in Nascar history, but also had a record five overtime sessions.  Another fun fact—since Nascar doesn’t measure beyond thousands of a second, technically this race ended with a 0.000 margin of victory.  And while there hasn’t been a tie before for a win in Nascar competition, I’m guessing that if we did have one, the gambling world of Nascar would implode upon itself.


2 (tie). 1996 Sears Auto Center 250 (Milwaukee), Buckshot Jones over Mike McLaughlin by 0.002 seconds.  So here we had a standalone race at a track located on a fairgrounds, sponsored by a company that no longer exists, featuring the first-ever win by a guy known as “Buckshot” over a guy nicknamed “Magic Shoes”.  Yeah, 1990’s Nascar CUP was fun, but 1990’s Nascar Busch Series was about as out there as you could get.


2 (tie). 1999 Touchstone Energy 300 (Talladega), Terry Labonte over Joe Nemechek by 0.002 seconds.  You know, I’m guessing that when this “win by an eyelash” moment happened, nobody cared that it was a Buschwhacker winning over another Buschwhacker.  Of course, Twitter/X wasn’t around yet, so…


2 (tie). 2024 Andy’s Frozen Custard 300 (Texas), Sam Mayer over Ryan Sieg by 0.002 seconds.  This was about as big of a heartbreaker as you could have, as Sieg—The Official Underdog of the Nascar Xfinity Series—came within inches of posting his first win.  On the plus side, we got to hear him say “sucks” in his post-race interview four times.


TRUCKS

1. 1995 Total Petroleum 200 (Colorado), Butch Miller over Mike Skinner by 0.001 seconds.  A quick history lesson—the inaugural year of the Truck Series was…odd.  They ran primarily out west on short tracks (Colorado National Speedway was less than half a mile around) with a mix of veterans of regional series and former Cup and Busch Series part-timers.  This led to some pretty cool races, such as this one, which for years stood as the closest finish across Nascar’s national touring series.  By the way, Miller’s truck was owned by Brad Daughtery, BGNF (Before Giant Novelty Fork).


2. 2010 Mountain Dew 250 (Talladega), Kyle Busch over Aric Almirola by 0.002 seconds.  Truck Series races have always put on great shows at plate tracks, and this one was no exception.  This came in Almirola’s lone full Truck Series season, driving the always-competitive Billy Ballew machine to a second-place finish in the standings.  Plus, Aric never smashed a commemorative guitar in victory lane in full-view of the designer (and yes, I know it didn’t happen in this race).


3 (tie). 2008 Cool City Customs 200 (Michigan), Erik Darnell over Johnny Benson by 0.005 seconds.  It was the rookie over the veteran in this one, with Darnell edging out Benson at the finish line after dominating the latter stages of the race.  While Darnell never had much success in Cup unlike, say, Kyle Busch, that was likely more of a function of the faltering economy of the time.  Plus, Erik never spun Ron Hornaday Jr. out into the infield on the final lap of the race (and yes, this DID happen in this race).


3 (tie). 2015 NC Education Lottery 200 (Charlotte), Kasey Kahne over Erik Jones by 0.005 seconds.  So here’s a fun fact—this was one of only six career Truck Series starts by Kasey Kahne.  Of those six, he won FIVE of them, with the only non-victory being a second-place finish.  Talk about domination!



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Talladega Race Picks: Uncle Max vs. 13th Place



And now it’s time for the annual Talladega Roulette Race!  That’s right—all you need to do is be on the lead lap with the checkered flag in sight and you have a chance to win!  No need for strategy, set-ups, or even a quality pit crew—just make sure you don’t wreck and you’ll have a shot!  Heck, maybe even if you DO wreck you can still win!

The prize?  A race win!  A spot in the playoffs!  Immortality along such greats as Lennie Pond and Ron Bouchard!  Its all waiting for you at Talladega—Nascar’s answer to an F1 race in the rain!


TRUCK SERIES (2 wins) off


Saturday Afternoon XFINITY SERIES (2 wins) Ag-Pro 300: RYAN SIEG—You’d call it a fix, except for the fact that its near impossible to fix a plate race.


Sunday CUP SERIES Geico 500: 13th Place Picks TY GIBBS.  FAVORITE (1 win): MICHAEL MCDOWELL—Front Row is great at plate races, which is a little like being great at coin tosses.  NEXT FAVORITE: AUSTIN CINDRIC—backing up his previous Daytona win (thus putting him at Cope-level).  DARK HORSE: JUSTIN HALEY—he HAS won before, y’know.



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Spade Racing Opens a Box of 2023 Panini Chronicles Cards, Pack 8 of 12



PACK 8: Another Signing, a Small Maligning, and Sponsor Defining


FIRST LOOK: And here we get another signed card, this time by Justin Allgaier.  I’m curious if he signs personal stuff this way (checks, contracts, etc.) with his car number, and what would happen from a legal standpoint if he changed car numbers.


TO THE BACK: Hmm, I don’t know if spending that long in the West Series is a good thing to brag about.  “He’s been bagging your groceries since 2017, folks!”.


SAY WHAT?: “I still don’t really know how this sponsor made any sense at all.”


RATING: 6 road course turns out of 10.


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