Random Wax: 2025 Donruss NASCAR 4 Hobby Box Packs with Auto

2025 Donruss:  It's Father's Day and we'll kick it off with a NASCAR post for all the dads who like seeing these guys turn left.  And I'm one of those guys.  Michael Waltrip only had 4 Cup wins in his career, but he was always a great fun driver personality in the sport and he's still active as a NASCAR O'Reilly Series (minor leagues) and NASCAR Truck Series commentator.  His best seasons were 1994 and 1995 when he finished 12th in the rankings both seasons, and he's looking great on this Red Xplosion Auto #/49.

I don't like saying it every time, but this is a boring design.  Just nothing going on on the fronts that scream NASCAR or fun.  Driver car number?  A little car design?  Tire design?  Race track design?  Give me anything people!  "Hurricane" Hocevar is always fun to watch because you don't know what chaos he might bring to the track.  He's only 23 and did get his first win this season and looks to make the playoffs for the first time in his career.

Jesse Love won the 2025 O'Reilly Series Championship (minors).  He's shown on a Red and Blue Parallel.  Two more young drivers appear on these Rated Rookie cards.

Not a fan of Spellbound but pop is a big fan of Kyle Larson.  These inserts allow you to spell out a driver's name if you get all of their Spellbound cards.  Larson has won 2 Championships and is the reigning NASCAR champ.

These Race Kings grown on me more and more though maybe a bit more color around the border would help.  But still, I like that Donruss brought back the cars.  Denny Hamlin is the biggest personality in the sport and for the all the great drivers NASCAR has, there just aren't enough drivers with the big personalities the sport craves.

After winning 10 races in the O'Reilly Series (minors) last season, Connor Zilisch is now a rookie at the Cup level.  He's on a Spellbound Carolina Blue Ice Parallel #/199.

More youngsters in the sport.  Layne Riggs is one of the top drivers in the Truck Series.

And some all-time greats including three retired greats.  We get The King, Richard Petty, Alan Kulwicki and Davey Allison both left the sport too soon.  Kulwicki won one championship but died shortly afterwards in a plane crash and Allison passed away at the height of his career in a helicopter crash.  Petty is the all-time winningest racer with 200 wins to go along with 7 Championships.  Joey Logano is no slouch winning 3 Championships of his own.

BREAKDOWN:

32 – Total Cards

5 – Retired Greats

4 – Red and Blue Parallel

2 – Race Kings

2 – Spellbound

2 – Rated Rookies

1 – Signature Series 

1 – Red Xplosion Parallel #/49

1 - Carolina Blue Ice Parallel #/99

Random Wax: 2023 Donruss Racing Hobby Box (Part Three)

2023 Donruss:   4X NASCAR Champion Jeff Gordon also finished top 5 in the standings 10X.  And he looks cool in his DuPont flames fire suit.

Third time I'm sharing different cards from this hobby box.  It was a fun box of cards.  Tons of variety, great drivers from all eras, across the different levels and some nice designs.

I'm a big 1990 Donruss guy so these are right in my wheelhouse.  Kyle Larson is 2X NASCAR Champion as well as the reigning champ.

Cool looking Under the Lights insert which may also be a Holographic Parallel?  My bad.  I don't remember.

I always find Elite Series inserts a bit bland, but I like the 2023 design and the way they scan.

Metal Masters, Unleashed and Royalty inserts.  Kyle Busch is my favorite driver in the sport.  He's 40 and nearing the end of his career.  I'd really like to see him have a good season before retiring.  He hasn't finished inside the top 15 in year-end points since 2023.  I like Unleashed.

Always enjoy the car shots.  Unfortunately, they didn't put cars shots in the 2025 set.  Big loss.  They are racing in Martinsville today.  There is some information out now on the 2026 set which is set to release next month.  I like the design and the base set has doubled in size from 2025.  I'm looking forward to it.

With NASCAR's 75th anniversary, they went with a diamond thing going on.  Not my favorite look for Race Kings/Race Queens.  Hailie Deegan is back in NASCAR after a year trying other opportunities.  She's driving in the Arca Menards Series which is NASCAR's lower tier.

That Red Parallel #/299 is one of 3 I pulled in the box.  I like the color it added to the card.  The Labonte and Gant are Silver Parallels.  Terry Labonte was a 2X NASCAR Champion winning in 1984 and 1996.

I really do like these Under the Lights.  We get to see the car, the driver and a good design that scans well.  Kevin Harvick is an all-time great, 1X Champion, and a good listen on the Fox broadcasts and Fox podcast.  His 60 wins have him 11th all-time behind current driver and owner Denny Hamlin.

BREAKDOWN:
192 –Total Cards
60 – 1990 Donruss
34 – Retired Greats
24 – Optic
23 –Race Kings
15 – Silver Parallel
8 – Cars (Basic)
6 – Elite Series
6 – Rated Rookie
4 – Unleashed
4 – Under the Lights
3 – Royalty
3 – Metal Masters
3 – Red Parallel #/299
2 – Revved Up
2 – Power Squad
2 – Race Day Relic
2 – Green Parallel #/99
2 – Navy Blue Parallel #/199
2 – Holographic Parallel #/199
1 – Marvels
1 – Monikers Auto
1 – Red Parallel #/250
1 – Purple Parallel #/49

2025 Donruss NASCAR 4 Hobby Box Packs with Relic

2025 Donruss:  The Daytona 500 today marks the start of the 2026 NASCAR season.  Denny Hamlin finished second in the 2025 season missing out on the championship with a heartbreaking loss at the end of the final race.  He's now tied for 10th all-time with 60 career wins.

Three of the better drivers at the Cup level which is the top tier in the sport.  Bubba Wallace and Chase Elliott are two of my favorites in NASCAR.  Elliott is a 1X Champion and has finished top 10 in the standings in 9 of his 10 full-time Cup seasons.

The backs are colorful but with no stats or different photo it's hard to get too excited about them.

Three of my Optic pulls.  They are the same designs and photos of the base cards.  That Riley Herbst is a Red Parallel #/199.

Jeff Gordon is an all-time great with 4 NASCAR Championships and 93 wins, good for 3rd all-time.  Spellbound inserts allow you to spell out a driver's last name.  There are six Gordon Spellbound inserts with different letters, photos and colors.  Okay idea but not sure how you display them as putting them in binder pages won't do anything for you.

Plenty of youngsters to go around.  Some who have only raced in the lower NASCAR levels and some who have raced some at each.

Inserts including my Suited Up relic.  I really like the Unleashed look.  I do wish there were different animals behind each driver.  I like Coming Attractions as well.

Overall, I'm pretty disappointed with this set.  The design is okay.  Nothing more.  In years past there was also a second retro design that gave mit ore variety.  There were also different photos of each driver.  Feels like Panini just phoned it in.

A couple Red and Blue Parallels and a Purple Parallel #/99.

We'll end it with a driver you either loved or hated in Darrell Waltrip.  I liked him and enjoyed him quite a bit as an announcer.  He won 3 NASCAR Championships and finished with 84 wins which is 5th all-time.  I'll show off more of these over time.

BREAKDOWN:

32 – Total Cards

6 – Retired Greats

4 – Optic

3 – Red and Blue Parallels

2 – Spellbound

1 – Unleashed

1 – Suited Up Relic

1 – Red Parallel #/199

1 – Coming Attraction

1 – Purple Parallel #/99

 

Random Wax: 2024 Donruss NASCAR Hobby Box - 6 Packs with Relics

2024 Donruss:  We go racing today as the 2025 NASCAR season starts at Daytona.  Dale Jr. is still very relevant in the sport today.  His company Dirty Mo Media has many media efforts including podcasts and he will be an announcer for TNT and Amazon Prime in 2025.  He will be on 10 races I think during the summer months.

As part of this set we get Retro '91 cards.  Not a favorite design of mine but maybe a car number or some type of logo would help.  Lots of parallels in this set including this Purple Parallel #/99 of Dale Jr.

The Car cards are fun.  We get to see the sponsors.  I do wish we could see more action here.  Maybe add some "Track Action" inserts showing spins, wrecks or major moments from the sport.

The base design is a bit meh to me.  The tire tracks do work but the gray and lines just don't work.  Give me a little car, a car number, or some type of logo and maybe this works better.  Just kind of bland as is.

I like Unleashed which goes vertical in 2024.  Again, the cards I'm showing off today are from six packs from my 2024 hobby box.

My two Red Parallel Suited Up Swatches.  Christopher Bell was 5th in the 2025 standings, and it was his third year being in the top 5.  Alex Labbe drove a total of 10 races in the Xfinity series and NASCAR Canada series.  

Nice combo cards with Production Line inserts where we get to see both the driver and car as well as pertinent stat like 93 wins for one of the all-time greats, Jeff Gordon which is 3rd all-time.

We get a Red Xplosion Parallel #/99 on one of my two Dominators inserts.  The Retro Series logo does say Retro, but I'd like to see something else on the card to help us get that feel.

Season Highlights card.

I do like these.  Plenty of color and we get the driver and car on the card fronts.  FedEx will not be a NASCAR sponsor for the first time in forever.  This is a big loss for the #11 Denny Hamlin team who has had FedEx as a sponsor for a long time.

We'll end this post with a Burning Rubber insert which gives me some of the action I'm wanting to see and this really cool looking Black Velocity Prizm Optic Parallel #/39 of Rajah Caruth.  Caruth finished 7th in the Craftsman Truck Series in 2024.  Enjoy the race today.  I'm excited for the season to start!

BREAKDOWN:
48 – Total Cards
16 – Retired Greats
6 – Optic
3 – Season Highlights
2 – Cars
2 – Race Kings
2 – Dominators
2 – Suited Up Swatches Red
1 – Unleashed
1 – Rated Rookie
1 – Burning Rubber
1 – Production Line
1 – Purple Parallel #/99
1 – Red Xplosion Parallel #/99
1 - Black Velocity Prizm Optic Parallel #/39

Random Wax: 2022 Topps Opening Day Hobby Box Part II

2022 Opening Day: The World Series picks back up in New York tonight and the Dodgers are up 2-0.  New York will need Aaron Judge to be more like Aaron Judge for them to make a comeback in the series.  He currently has 1 hit in 9 at the plate.

I always kind of liked that Dodgers alternate uni.  I bought this box back in March of 2022 but it has so much to offer I wanted to share more cards.  Opening Day is a brand I really enjoyed and miss a lot.

Matt Vierling has been the most productive of these three and plays in Detroit.  Gavin Sheets has found plenty of at bats with the White Sox with a career .230 average.

I liked the design of these Opening Day inserts.  Has a Wild Card vibe to them with being able to see through the words.

Wow things have changed.  Franco is dealing with legal woes.  Bohm is a 1X all-star.  India was the 2021 Rookie of the Year and a starter for the Reds since then.

Mascots were always a fun part of the Opening Day sets.

This Triple Play card is a mixed bag of emotions.  Trout was injured again this season.   Ohtani is now a Dodger, had a historic season, but went out of Saturday's game with a shoulder injury.  Rendon has been on a four-year decline dealing with injuries every yeard.

These feel a bit bland but wow you can't argue with my pull of Bomb Squad cards.  Soto is holding up his end of the deal hitting .429 in two World Series games so far. 

Really nice photo on this horizontal offering.

Lot of Trout in this box which is always a great thing.

Mookie is looking for his 3rd World Series ring, already winning one with Boston and one with LA.

Another great photo with Arenado's bubble gum making an appearance.

Waino and Goldy going Cardinal old school in different ways and I like both looks.  This was fun and there were many players who are key to the tonight's game. Still pulling for the Dodgers.  Hoping for more fun and drama like we've seen through the first two games.

BREAKDOWN:

252 – Total Cards

37 – RC

19 – Future Stars

17 – Total Cards

12 – Mascot

12 – Bomb Squad

12 – All-Star Rookie Cup

7 – Opening Day

5 – Triple Play

3 – Retired Greats

3 – Opening Day Blue Foil