Foundational Bricks—The 1994 Brickyard 400: 38th, Jeff Burton

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 38th: (rookie) Jeff Burton #8 Raybestos Stavola Brothers Racing Ford


Finished: 19th


Career Highlights: 21 Cup Series race wins, four (consecutive) Cup Series championship top-five finishes, 1999 Southern 500 winner, drove a pink-accented car and didn’t get mocked for it.


Jeff Burton late in his
career
Total Brickyard 400 Starts: 20


Best Brickyard 400 Finish: 5th (1999)




1994 Fun Fact: Jeff was the 1994 Cup Series Rookie of the Year, beating out his own brother for the award.  On the flip side, Jeff didn’t spend an entire year living off the land in the woods.

Signed by team co-owner Billy Stavola



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An Average O’Reilly Series Race Day for JJ Yeley

3 Hours Before the Green Flag: Arrive at track with the little soaps you swiped from the Motel 6.


2 Hours, 45 Minutes Before the Green Flag: Change into remarkably clean firesuit (no laps=no sweat).


2 Hours, 30 Minutes Before the Green Flag: Meeting with sponsors (last weekend was ‘Recliner 4 Sale Dark Brown V. Minor Fabric Damage $150 OBO’).


2 Hours Before the Green Flag: Meet with Ford Racing representatives (a guy in a blue polo shirt who claims to drive a ’98 Ranger).


1 Hour 30 Minutes Before the Green Flag: Pre-race meal—ramen noodles, expired beef jerky, and whatever soda they could swipe from JRM’s coolers.


1 Hour Before the Green Flag: Drivers’ meeting, try again to get “Hey I’m an F1 champion” joke to make someone laugh.


30 Minutes Before the Green Flag: Drivers’ introductions—the silence is a good time to check for tinnitus.


15 Minutes Before the Green Flag: Pre-race ceremonies, try think of new ways to explain why the car will “fail”.


5 Minutes Before the Green Flag: Get strapped in, fire up the engine, roll off pit road, and think about where to go in about half an hour.


GREEN FLAG!: Fall to the back, wonder how it got to be this way, regret departure from JGR, avoid spinning Natalie Decker.


5 Minutes After the Green Flag: Pit, sit in car, watch crew do nothing, then go back on track.  It’s a lot like life.


15 Minutes After the Green Flag: Pit, use random excuse to explain why car isn’t working, pull behind the garage, say hi to Phil the official who takes pity on us.


30 Minutes After the Green Flag: Help team load car onto hauler that was once a backup hauler to the backup hauler for Hendrick Motorsports’ test team.


45 Minutes After the Green Flag: If possible, pull out of the garage through the tunnel to beat the traffic.  If not possible, stay and play canasta to pass the time.



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Race Picks Bristol: 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.


ChatGPT AI (5 wins) sez: If I had to put one name on it right now, before Friday practice and qualifying, I’m going with Kyle Larson to win Saturday night’s Bass Pro Shops Night Race at Bristol.


Truck Series (2 wins) UNOH 250 Thursday 8pm ET on FS1: LAYNE RIGGS—will he be stuck in Trucks forever?


O’Reilly Series (4 wins) Food City 300 Friday 7:30pm ET on CW: JUSTIN ALLGAIER—Justin time (…sorry).


Cup Series Bass Pro Shops Night Race 7:30pm ET on USA  FAVORITE (1 win): DENNY HAMLIN—I feel like Denny & Kyle just flip spaces between AI & Favorite picks lately.  NEXT FAVORITE (3 wins): TY GIBBS—heck of a paint scheme too.  DARK HORSE (2 wins): JOSH BERRY—on a bit of a heater lately.




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Spade Racing Opens 3 2026 Select Blaster Boxes—Preview



I’m moving away from Hobby Boxes to three “Blaster” Boxes this time for the 2026 Panini Select cards.  Join me as I go through all 18 packs!






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Foundational Bricks—The 1994 Brickyard 400: 37th, Ted Musgrave

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 37th: Ted Musgrave #16 Family Channel Roush Racing Ford


Finished: 13th


Career Highlights: 2005 Truck Series champion, 1988 Snowball Derby winner, 1995 Cup Series championship seventh place points finish, spent 4+ seasons in the Roush Racing B-team and didn’t complain.

Musgrave's 1994 car

Total Brickyard 400 Starts: 8


Best Brickyard 400 Finish: 13th (1994)



"The amount of Race Fans" --Ted Musgrave


1994 Fun Fact: Ted’s best 1994 finish came at Phoenix, coming home fifth.  Again, this is pretty impressive when you consider that he was essentially a test driver for Mark Martin.



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The Hero Card Project Part 7

 Link to my preview (contains all team addresses)


Link to Part 6

Hero card responses just keep 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 August 15th & August 26th.

One card from Front Row Motorsports

Two SIGNED cards from O'Reilly Series
team Peterson Racing



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Race Picks WWT/St. Louis: 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.


Claude AI Sonnet 5 (5 wins) sez: Since you're asking for my genuine read rather than just facts: I'd lean toward Denny Hamlin.

Here's my reasoning — he's been remarkably strong at WWT Raceway specifically: he finished second, second, and first in his last three races there before winning last year's Enjoy Illinois 300 by 1.6 seconds over his own teammate, earning his first win at the track and 59th of his career. That kind of track-specific pattern (rather than one-off luck) is one of the more reliable signals in NASCAR, and intermediate 1.25-mile ovals tend to reward strong aero/handling packages that Joe Gibbs Racing has consistently had there.


Truck Series (2 wins) off


O’Reilly Series (4 wins) Nu Way 225 Saturday 7:30pm ET on CW: SAM MAYER—its about time, Sam.


Cup Series Enjoy Illinois 300 3pm ET on USA  FAVORITE (1 win): CHRISTOPHER BELL—Two in a row.  NEXT FAVORITE (2 wins): KYLE LARSON—actually closing the deal this time.  DARK HORSE (2 wins): BRAD KESELOWSKI—fuel mileage is the only way.



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Spade Racing Opens a 2026 Donruss Hobby Box of Cards—Pack 16 of 16

NEW SET COMING SOON!


It’s back to a hobby back for the first official 2026 cards.  Join me as I go through all 16 packs of 8 cards each!


Pack 16: Delaware, Quality Care, and The Finish—We’re There!


First Look: I’m going to take a guess and say this firesuit is in a frame in an office somewhere in Wilmington Delaware right now.


To the Back: Y’know, Ford’s plan of poaching drivers from other development systems isn’t elegant, but you can’t argue with the results.


Say What: “V for Victory, V for Vroom, V for Voluminous autograph requests after my first win.”


Final Rating: 6 post-race interviews out of 10



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Foundational Bricks—The 1994 Brickyard 400: 36th, Kyle Petty

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 36th: Kyle Petty #42 Mello Yello SABCO Racing Pontiac


Finished: 25th


A 1994 Kyle Petty Costcos
Brothers poster, via eBay
Career Highlights: Eight Cup Series race wins, 1987 Coke 600 winner, six-time “person of the year” winner (various awards), NWO member.


Total Brickyard 400 Starts: 13


Best Brickyard 400 Finish: 13th (1997, 2005)





1994 Fun Fact: Following back-to-back fifth place points finishes, Kyle slumped to a 15th place finish in the final 1994 points standings.  But his performance would improve…um…well…ok, never really.



www.spaderacing.com updated four times weekly


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


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