2021 Donruss NASCAR Hobby Box

 2021 Donruss NASCAR: I've enjoyed Donruss Racing the last few years and picked up a few hobby boxes over that time.  Panini does a good job with variety, parallels and including retired greats.  We'll kick it off with Awesome Bill from Dawsonville.  A past champion, Hall of Famer, winner of 44 races, he finished in the top 10 in the standings 13 times (eight in the top five), and is the father of the current NASCAR Champion Chase Elliott.  He also won the award as NASCAR's most popular driver a record 16 times.

These Retro '88 cards are a design I really like and account for 75 cards of the set.  I did pull two relics and for my auto I pulled a redemption card for a Jimmie Johnson Timeless Treasures Signatures Holo Gold #/25.  I'm not a big Johnson fan but I've found a good home for it.

This is the "base" card design which isn't bad.  The set consists of six subsets: Race Kings, Rated Rookie, Cars, Base, Cars, Retro '88.  

This is a silver parallel of the 2020 Champion Chase Elliott.  He had a heck of a run in the playoffs to win it all.  These silver parallels always look gray to me.  Or grey even.

I do like most of the inserts and they help the variety.  I'm a Contenders guy but I think the Elite Series is my favorite of these three. 

I love retired greats and there are usually plenty in these sets.  The colors in the Retro Series inserts help that retro theme.

The colors on these cards are great.  I also like how the drivers and cars are able to share the card with a good design.

Parallels are a big part of this set.  Here you see the blue (#/199), green (#/99) and purple (#/49).  There were a total of 28 parallels in this box. 

A couple red parallels (#/299) and another silver parallel.  Panini didn't shy away from the masks which I really like.  For the majority of the season we saw drivers with masks on when they weren't in their cars.

My Race Day Relic Black Parallel #/10.  It is race worn/used material according the back of the card though I couldn't say specifically what it is a part of. The material is smooth and shiny like plastic.

Not a bad looking insert but I wish the colors were more along the lines of the team/car colors.

Optics come one per pack and are pretty popular.  I think this is my first card of Ernie Irvan on new cardboard so I was excited to pull this card.  Probably my only real gripe is the Race Kings which is the insert I look forward to the most.  What do they do?  Put a head and shoulders picture on it.  <yawns>  Not sure what they were trying to do.  I enjoy it more when they do art or even when they've thought outside the box and did full body cards that weren't just a photo .  I just like the "artsy" look the "Kings" cards normally give ya across the different Donruss sports brands.  Still this was a really fun box.  Glad I went the hobby route again this year.

BREAKDOWN:
192 – Total Cards
61 – Retro 1988
24 – Optic
20 – Race Kings
17 – Retired Greats
14 – Silver Parallel
10 – Rated Rookie
8 – Car Cards
5 – Retro Series
4 – NASCAR Classics
4 – Red Parallel #/299
3 - Contenders
3 – Dominators
3 – Aero Package
3 – Action Packed
3 – Blue Parallel #/199
2 – Elite Series
2 – Green Parallel #/99
1 – Retro 1988 Relic
1 – Purple Parallel #/49
1 – Holographic Parallel #/199
1 – Race Day Relic Black Parallel #/10
1 – Timeless Treasures Signatures Holo Gold #/25 (Redemption)