Race Picks (the last season?), Uncle Max vs. The Points Leader: DARLINGTON/PORTLAND


I’m back on the mend after that bad cold last week, and ready to make my picks not just for this weekend’s races, but the whole Cup playoffs!

ROUND ONE ELIMINATIONS: Austin Dillon, Josh Berry, Shane Van Gisbergen, Chase Briscoe

ROUND TWO ELIMINATIONS: Austin Cindric, Bubba Wallace, Alex Bowman, Ross Chastain

ROUND THREE ELIMINATIONS: Denny Hamlin, Chase Elliott, Joey Logano, Tyler Reddick

FINAL ROUND ELIMINATIONS: Ryan Blaney, William Byron, Christopher Bell

AND YOUR 2025 CUP CHAMPION IS… Kyle Larson


TRUCK SERIES (5 wins) Sober of Slammer 200 (Saturday 12pm on FS1) COREY HEIM—hmmm, I’ll chose “Sober”, please.


XFINITY SERIES (2 wins) POA 147 (Saturday 7:30pm ET on The CW) JUSTIN ALLGAIER—former site of that weird “GI Joe” sponsored IndyCar race.


CUP SERIES Cook Out Southern 500 (Sunday 6pm ET on USA) Points Leader picks KYLE LARSON.  Favorite (2 wins): DENNY HAMLIN—a prelude to being eliminated in the third round.  Next Favorite (5 wins): TYLER REDDICK—perfect time for his first win of the season.  Dark Horse (2 wins): ERIK JONES—as always, all “Dark Horse” picks are drivers who have been eliminated from the championship.



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Spade Racing Opens a 2025 Donruss Hobby Box: Pack 2 of 16



It’s back to new cards, with a “hobby box” of 2025 Donruss racing cards.  There’s sixteen packs, so join me as I go through each of them!


Pack 2 of 16: Indy NXT, Megalopolis, and Gator Flex


First Look: One of the downsides of cards being printed so early (and the demand from creepy guys for Hailie merch) is that we get cards for drivers long gone from the Nascar system.


To the Back: Glad to see a driver who grew up in the Northeastern BosNYWash region make it in Nascar.  And no, the Truexes don’t count—they’re from the Jersey Shore.


Say What: “Call me champion, and dig my Terry Labonte-like sleeve stripes”


Final Rating: 2 “through the field”s out of 10



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Spade Racing’s Stars in Unusual Cars: Bobby Hamilton



Bobby Hamilton’s big break—one race in the Hendrick “movie car” (1989)

Join me throughout this year as I take a look at when some of the sport’s biggest stars drove some unusual cars! (Presented in no particular order).


Why? Bobby Hamilton turned a promising rookie year in the Busch Series into one of the most-unusual ways to make a debut in the Cup Series.  Hendrick Motorsports was providing “Days of Thunder” with movie cars, and needed someone to drive the black #51 of Rowdy Burns in a race to get the necessary footage.  That someone was was Bobby Hamilton.


How successful were they? Despite driving what was essentially an “R&D” car, Hamilton qualified fifth and led five laps at Phoenix.  It was only an engine issue that would sink his chances of a strong finish.


What was the aftermath? Hamilton went on to a successful Cup (4 race wins) AND a successful Truck (10 race wins and a championship) career before succumbing to head and neck cancer at age 49.


Ranking on the Strange-O-Meter? 10 slow-motion crashes out of 10—only in NASCAR could you make a movie and enter a car legally in the competition—and be competitive!



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Nascar 2026 Schedule Reveals: Questions and Answers



Earlier this week Nascar unveiled its national touring series schedules for next year.  You have questions, I have answers!


OK, what are the biggest changes to the Cup Series?  Chicagoland (the oval, not a Chi-town themed theme park) is in for the Chicago Street Race, and a race at the Coronado military base near San Diego replaces the Mexico City race.


Why did Mexico City and Chicago (proper) lose their races?  Mexico City would’ve had little to no shot of hosting in 2026 due to preparations for the upcoming World Cup.  Chicago, well, nobody really cared about it beyond a few oddballs who wanted to whine about street crime.


Alright, but what’s this I heard about North Wilkesboro being back as a points race?  You heard correctly!  North Wilkesboro is back on the schedule as a points-paying race and the All Star race is moving to Dover.


DOVER got the All Star Race?!?  Hey, I live an hour away and I’m just as surprised as you are.


What other schedule changes are there in Cup?  Watkins Glen moves from August to May (Mother’s Day Weekend), New Hampshire moves back into the regular season, and Dover & North Wilkesboro have effectively swapped dates (Dover to May, North Wilkesboro to July).


Who gets the Saturday Night races (unless it rains)?  Richmond, summer Daytona, and fall Bristol.  And yes, Dover will mostly likely host the All Star Race on late Sunday afternoon due to a lack of lights.


Okay, okay—how about the Xfinity Series?  Honestly, the biggest change there is the series name—O’Reilly Auto Parts (OW!) takes over for Xfinity.


Gee, Xfinity must be really mad at Nascar for all the chan—No, they’re staying in the sport as a premier partner in the Cup Series as well as sponsoring the “fastest lap” bonus point.  So yeah, take your whining elsewhere.


How about the Truck Series?  The biggest changes are a return to Dover and a first-ever appearance on the streets of St. Petersburg Florida.  And yet they’ll STILL have that three-week break in March without a race.



www.spaderacing.com updated four times weekly


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Race Picks (the last season?), Uncle Max vs. The Points Leader: DAYTONA


EDITOR’S NOTE: Uncle Max is out with a bad cold this week.  He texted me his picks last night.


TRUCK SERIES (5 wins) off


XFINITY SERIES (2 win) Wawa 250 (Friday 7:30pm ET on The CW) JESSE LOVE—could RCR actually get on a roll?


CUP SERIES Coke Zero Sugar 400 (Saturday 7:30pm ET on NBC) Points Leader picks WILLIAM BYRON.  Favorite (2 wins): ALEX BOWMAN—easiest way to guarantee his place in the playoffs.  Next Favorite (5 wins): DENNY HAMLIN—11 vs. an exciting finish to the regular season.  Dark Horse (2 wins): TY DILLON—standard chaos theory.



www.spaderacing.com updated four times weekly


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Spade Racing Opens a 2025 Donruss Hobby Box: Pack 1 of 16



It’s back to new cards, with a “hobby box” of 2025 Donruss racing cards.  There’s sixteen packs, so join me as I go through each of them!


Pack 1 of 16: Larson, Almost Done, and a Lawless One


First Look: Here we have a look at the basic design for the cards.  I like it, although the reflective foil isn’t that good for pictures.  Then again, I’m not a trained photographer—I took pottery in high school.


To the Back: William Byron really has done virtually everything he can in the sport—all he needs is a Cup championship to seal the deal.  Without one, he’s just an incredibly successful racer who’s independently wealthy enough to pursue any and all of his dreams.


Say What: “Yes, it’s my real name, and yes, I’m aware that if I married Xena her name would be Lawless Lawless.”


Final Rating: 3 green flags out of 10




www.spaderacing.com updated four times weekly


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Spade Racing’s Stars in Unusual Cars: Dave Marcis (part 2)



Prelude to a legend—Marcis in the Rod Osterlund 2 car (1978)

Join me throughout this year as I take a look at when some of the sport’s biggest stars drove some unusual cars! (Presented in no particular order).

Marcis in Osterlund's car (racing Lennie Pond)


Why? After a part-time 1977 season with several different teams, Dave Marcis moved to the nearly-new Osterlund Racing team of Californian Rod Osterlund for 1978 (NOTE—Marcis ran a single race for Osterlund in 1977).


How successful were they? Despite running their first full season, Osterlund provided equipment good enough for Marcis to finish fifth in points.  The only real blotch on the season was the lack of a race win.


What was the aftermath? While Marcis returned to running his own equipment to progressively worse results, Osterlund would hire a young hot-shoe named Dale Earnhardt, winning the 1980 Cup championship in the process.


Ranking on the Strange-O-Meter? 4 Goodyear hats out of 10—in retrospect the hiring of a seasoned veteran like Marcis was a genius move on Osterlund’s part.



www.spaderacing.com updated four times weekly


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The All Star Race? In MY Dover? Its More Likely Than You Think



A bizarre rumor sprung up this past week that had Dover Motor Speedway reportedly swapping races with North Wilkesboro Speedway.  That would have North Wilkesboro return to the schedule as a points-paying race, and would have Dover—yes, DOVER—as the All Star Race.  Seriously.

But as strange as it sounds, don’t knock it yet.  Just think about what an All Star Race in Delaware would look like…


—At last, a chance to finally use the harness racing track in the infield as part of an auto race!  I suggest that, much like all harness races, the infield race be limited in speed and completely rigged.


—No lights?  No problem!  Nothing says “all star race” like an event held in the middle of the afternoon.  Bonus points if they shoot off fireworks again that nobody can see against a bright blue sky.


—I say we bring back the randomized inversion of the field, but instead of that Plinko board that never worked, we use one of the giant slot machines at the on-site casino.  Free $20 in slot play to all drivers who participate for the first time!


—A chance to honor such famous Delawareans in Nascar as…uh…well…


—Instead of a $1,000,000 prize to the winner, they get a $1,000,000 gift card to the Christiana Mall—no sales tax means your dollar goes further!  Alternately they can take the money and buy the entire Dover Mall (and probably get some change). 



www.spaderacing.com updated four times weekly


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Race Picks (the last season?), Uncle Max vs. The Points Leader: RICHMOND


Gotta keep this short, as I’m dealing with a burst pipe in my townhouse.  Yeah, I don’t own it, so yeah, I don’t pay to fix it, but I still gotta deal with it.  Needless to say, I’m glad the pipe was in the basement/garage and that I store all my valuables in the spare room on the third floor.


TRUCK SERIES (4 wins) Eero 250 (Friday 7:30pm ET on FS1) COREY HEIM—I blame myself for not picking Corey last week.


XFINITY SERIES (2 win) off


CUP SERIES Cook Out 400 (Saturday 7:30pm ET on USA) Points Leader picks WILLIAM BYRON.  Favorite (2 wins): CHRIS BUESCHER—it’s an all-dark horse picks weekend!  Next Favorite (5 wins): DANIEL SUAREZ—anyone can lock themselves into the playoffs in this race.  Dark Horse (1 win): AUSTIN DILLON—yes, even him.



www.spaderacing.com updated four times weekly


www.facebook.com/spaderacing


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Visit the store https://www.cafepress.com/spaderacing


Buy the book 100 Stock Car Racing What Ifs Unauthorized


Does this track have lights?


A MOXOC Media production

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