Spade Racing: April 2026

Race Picks Texas: Spade Racing vs. AI

Join me as I test my wits against various AI programs in picking the 2026 Cup races. Once they’ve made their picks, I’ll make my normal Favorite, Next Favorite, and Dark Horse picks (in addition to my regular O’Reilly & Truck Series picks). At the end of the year we’ll see who knows more—me, or a soulless machine gobbling up water and electricity.

Perplexity Deep Thought AI (1 win) sez: “Recent odds and futures markets suggest a small group of drivers are viewed as strongest overall in 2026, including Tyler Reddick”

Truck Series (1 win) SpeedyCash 250 Friday 8pm ET on FS1: KADEN HONEYCUTT--turning into quite a wait for Dodge, huh?

O’Reilly Series (1 win) Andy’s Frozen Custard Saturday 3:30pm ET on CW: SAM MEYER—“340”? Why?

Cup Series Wurth 400 Sunday 3:30pm on Fox FAVORITE (1 win): CHRISTOPHER BELL—Toyota dominance continues unabated. NEXT FAVORITE: KYLE LARSON—still “the greatest driver in the world”? DARK HORSE (1 win): JOSH BERRY—a classic team wins at a not-so-classic track.

www.spaderacing.com updated four times weekly

www.facebook.com/spaderacing

www.twitter.com/spaderacing

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

Buy the book 100 Stock Car Racing What Ifs Unauthorized

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A MOXOC Media production

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Spade Racing Opens 2 Blaster Boxes of 2025 Panini Prizm Cards—Pack 9 of 12

Rather than a “hobby box”, I decided to go with the more economical choice of two “Blaster Boxes” for the 2025 Panini Prizm cards (although they were bought in January 2026. With six packs of five cards each in each box, that’s twelve packs to open!

Pack 9: Green, dream, and scream

First Look: The modern Interstate Batteries firesuit sure is “snot green”, isn’t it? At least Ty has plenty of Cup wins to distract fro—oh, wait.

To the Back: Ok, but fans—slow your roll. We don’t want a repeat of Kasey Kahne being called a disappointment for not winning a dozen races a year.

Say What: “If someone says ‘Life is unfairrrr’ to me ONCE MORE today I’m going to flip out!”

Final Rating: 4 spoilers out of 10

www.spaderacing.com updated four times weekly

www.facebook.com/spaderacing

www.twitter.com/spaderacing

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

www.moxoc.com

Foundational Bricks—The 1994 Brickyard 400: 17th, Ernie Irvan

Join me as I take a look back every Monday at the starting lineup for one of the biggest races in NASCAR history, the inaugural Brickyard 400.

Starting 17th: Ernie Irvan #28 Texaco Havoline Robert Yates Racing Ford

Finished: 17th

Irvan's car being unloaded
at the 1994 Brickyard 400

Career Highlights: 15 time Cup Series race winner, 1991 Daytona 500 winner, championship leader/contender in 1994 before his horrific crash, don’t ask him to dance.

Total Brickyard 400 Starts: 5

Best Brickyard 400 Finish: 2nd (1996)

"Just how good our car was, the race with Jeff Gordon in the
closing laps, having the lead with less than 5 laps to go, and
cutting that RF (Right Front) tire down... still haunts me today!"
--Larry McReynolds (Ernie Irvan's crew chief)

Cards signed by Ernie Irvan

1994 Fun Fact: Despite missing the final eleven races due to his near-death practice crash at Michigan, Ernie still finished 22nd in points in 1994. For context, he finished ahead of a future Hall-of-Famer (Harry Gant), a future championship contender (Jeff Burton), and a future professional tv whiner (Jimmy Spencer).

www.spaderacing.com updated four times weekly

www.facebook.com/spaderacing

www.twitter.com/spaderacing

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

www.moxoc.com

The Next First-Time Cup Winner

Two weeks ago saw Ty Gibbs, my perennial dark horse pick, finally break through with a shocking Cup series win, his first-ever.

Then we got back to normal with Tyler Reddick winning last week.

Who will be the NEXT Cup driver to post their first-ever Cup series win? Well, lets take a look:

The Most Likely: Connor Zilisch—even though it’s a down year for Trackhouse, The Z-man’s shown his mettle on road courses already. And its not like he has any pressure in the Rookie of the Year battle.

The Popular Option: Carson Hocevar—people have been saying everything from Hocevar being the next race winner to having him taking over the 48. But while a win wouldn’t be all THAT surprising, the 48 seems to be earmarked for Corey Day and/or, y’know, Alex Bowman.

The Drafting Track Trio: Noah Gragson, Todd Gilliland, or Zane Smith—but hey, isn’t Nascar rigging races for the lawsuit winners?

The “He 'Only' Has an Exhibition Race Win”: Ryan Preece—while I still don’t know how “good” of a Cup driver Preece is (he’s never really run for a top-flight team), I can see him being pushed to a drafting track win by Keselowski (as long as his car doesn’t take flight again).

The Wild Card: John Hunter Nemechek—Legacy isn’t exactly a great team, or even a good team. But with a postseason berth almost completely out of the question, I can totally see them making some wild strategy calls late in a race for The Man With Three Names.

The “Y’all Better Do It Quick”: Riley Herbst—Corey Heim is all but a lock for the 35 car next year, especially with Rockstar becoming a sponsor of 23XI. So unless the Monster money can work miracles at Legacy MC, Riley needs to get it done this year somehow.

The REALLY Long Shot: Ty Dillon—500 races in the three national touring series and four wins. Yeah, we might need a random rainstorm for this to happen.

The “No”: Cody Ware—yeah, I just don’t see it happening.

www.spaderacing.com updated four times weekly

www.facebook.com/spaderacing

www.twitter.com/spaderacing

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

www.moxoc.com

Race Picks Talladega: Spade Racing vs. AI

Meta/Facebook AI (1 win) sez: “Nobody can guarantee a winner at Talladega — it’s a superspeedway where drafting packs and last-lap chaos decide it — but here’s who the oddsmakers and experts are circling:

Ryan Blaney: Team Penske is stacked at superspeedways. Blaney has 3 career Talladega wins and since the Next Gen car arrived in 2022 he’s got the most top-3s and leads the most laps behind only Logano. He also won Daytona in August.”

Truck Series (1 win) off

O’Reilly Series (1 win) Ag-Pro 300 Saturday 4pm ET on CW: RYAN SIEG—if its gonna happen anywhere, it’ll be here.

Cup Series Jack Link’s 500 Sunday 3pm on Fox FAVORITE (1 win): BRAD KESELOWSKI—it just might be… NEXT FAVORITE: ERIK JONES—I think it is… DARK HORSE (1 win): MICHAEL MCDOWELL—it is! An all-dark horse picks weekend.

www.spaderacing.com updated four times weekly

www.facebook.com/spaderacing

www.twitter.com/spaderacing

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

www.moxoc.com

Spade Racing Opens 2 Blaster Boxes of 2025 Panini Prizm Cards—Pack 8 of 12

Pack 8: Underbird, nobody’s heard, and a quick word

First Look: Plenty of words have been used to describe Alan Kulwicki: Underdog. Independent. Resourceful. Standoffish. Winner. Hard-headed. Entrepreneur. Genius. Champion. But until today, never has ANYONE called him “Groovy”.

To the Back: I don’t know if its a sign of aging or developing something resembling a social life, but I honestly had no idea who Luke Fenhaus was until I read this card.

Say What: “Want a word? Ok, here’s one—‘gator’”.

Final Rating: 6 sets of tires out of 10

www.spaderacing.com updated four times weekly

www.facebook.com/spaderacing

www.twitter.com/spaderacing

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

www.moxoc.com

Foundational Bricks—The 1994 Brickyard 400: 16th, Dave Marcis

Join me as I take a look back every Monday at the starting lineup for one of the biggest races in NASCAR history, the inaugural Brickyard 400.

Starting 16th: Dave Marcis #71 Termite Construction Marcis Racing Chevy

Finished: 41st (DNF—Crash)

Marcis' 1994 car

Career Highlights: Five-time Cup Series race winner, 1975 Cup Series championship runner-up, “The Last of the Independents”, made wingtip shoes standard racing equipment.

Total Brickyard 400 Starts: 4

Best Brickyard 400 Finish: 35th (1996)

1994 Fun Fact: 1994’s spring Bristol race would see Dave’s last-ever top-ten race finish, albeit FOURTEEN LAPS DOWN to the winner. Again, parity=exciting.

www.spaderacing.com updated four times weekly

www.facebook.com/spaderacing

www.twitter.com/spaderacing

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

www.moxoc.com

The Hero Card Project 2026: Part 1

Link to my preview (contains all team addresses)

Hero card responses are pouring in! If you’re new to hero card collecting, check out my guide at herocardguide.com for step-by-step instructions on how to request hero cards, how to receive them, and how to store them. I sent SASEs (Self Addressed Stamped Envelopes) to every Cup, O’Reilly and Truck team, as well as a few major ARCA operations as well. Who’ll be the first to respond? Who’ll send in the most cards? Whose cards will be brand new? And will any teams send in autographed cards? Join me over the next few months as I find out!

The following cards arrived from April 2 through April 11.