Random Wax: 2026 Donruss NASCAR Blaster with Autograph

2026 Donruss:  Last race of the season is today, and NASCAR will crown the 2026 Champion.  Ryan Blaney is the 2023 NASCAR Champion.  Loudon the Lobster is the prize for winning the New Hampshire race.

Kyle Larson has all but sewn up his 3rd NASCAR Championship which he should win today.  He also won in 2021 and 2026.

There's an Optic in each blaster pack.  A couple of Orange Velocity Parallels here.  Kasey Kahne topped out at 4th in the standings in 2012 but was always a fan favorite.  Chris Buescher made the playoffs for the 2nd time this season.  He is currently 16th in the standings but did place 7th in 2023.

This design is reminiscent of the 2016 Donruss Football and 2016-2017 Donruss Basketball designs.  Thanks to Jeremy for pointing that out.

Spellbound has each of the letters from a driver's name.  I don't really get it but I'm sure some like it.

Bubba is a favorite of mine.  He's 13th to start the day but has a realistic shot at 10th place which would tie his 2023 career high.

I like Unleashed but I wish there was variety on the background art.  Josh Williams races full-time in the O'Reilly Series but hasn't really found any success there.  Kevin Harvick famously took over for Dale Earnhardt after he passed in 2001, and won 1 Championship in his career.  Brad Keselowski is the 2012 NASCAR Champion.  He's without a ride next year and still figuring out his next steps.

Team cards.  Team Penske has Austin Cindric,  Ryan Blaney and Joey Logano racing for them in Fords. 

My two Lime Green Parallels are #/199.

Lots of retired greats which is always fun to me.  Jeff Gordon (4X), Darrell Waltrip (3X), Kurt Busch (1X) and Richard Petty (7X) bring plenty of championship history with them.  That Petty is a Laser Parallel.

BREAKDOWN:

56 – Total Cards

13 – Retired Greats

8 – Retro

7 – Optic

7 - Rides

4 – Orange Velocity

2 – Unleashed

2 – Lime Green Parallel #/199

1 – Team Logos

1 - Spellbound

1 – Rated Rookie

1 – Laser Parallel

1 – Orange Velocity Base Optic Signature

Random Wax: 2022-2023 Donruss Basketball

22-23 Donruss:  Dame and the Blazers have started off the year well.  Still a long way to go but it's been fun so far.  The 7X All-NBA, 9X All-Star and 75th Anniversary Team member rejoined Portland after playing in Milwaukee for two seasons.

This is a solid design I like and there's some good photography to boot.  Jrue Holiday is a Portland Trail Blazer as well, after being part of the trade sending Dame to the Bucks in 2023.  He's won a championship with the Bucks and the Celtics.  He's also been selected to the All-Defensive Team 6X.

Jalen Williams is a big part of the Thunder and their success and their 2024-2025 Championship.  He's averaged 18 points per game shooting 37% from deep in his 5 seasons in OKC.

My inserts. I like the look on the Complete Players design.  Franchise Features isn't bad either. Trae Young is now a part of the new look Wizards and Kawhi is back in Toronto where he helped them win their only championship.

My Green Laser Holo Parallel.  I picked this pack up as part of a recent Wal-Mart online purchase.

Fun pack of cards and a pretty good pull.  Some favorite players for me as well and lots of fun remembering what was in 2022-2023.  RJ Barrett is another big piece of that Raptors team.

BREAKDOWN:

30 – Total Cards

3 – Rated Rookie

1 – Complete Players

1 – Franchise Features

1 – Green Laser Holo Parallel

Random Wax: 2018 Donruss NASCAR Blaster with Relic

2018 Donruss:   Rusty Wallace is my favorite all-time driver, and also a 1X Champion (1989).  He's 12th on the all-time wins list with 55 and was top 10 in the NASCAR standings 17X.  NASCAR is at Martinsville today in the playoff's next to last race, with the final Championship race next week.

Not a big fan of the '85 retro design but it is fine here.  We have 2 Name Variations with Dale Jr and Happy Harvick.  Tony Stewart is 3X NASCAR Champion while Kevin Harvick won 1 Championship.

We have multiple photos of drivers which is nice, and we also have a Name Variation for Brad Keselowski.  He recently said he is leaving the RFK racing team, which he is a co-owner of, after this season.  He is a 1X NASCAR Champion.

I really like these car cards.  Great looking photo of 2020 NASCAR Champion Chase Elliott's car.

I like the Race Kings cards in this set with the car and the driver.  Sadly, 2X Champion Kyle Busch passed away unexpectantly earlier this year from illness while still an active driver.

This base design is solid.

One of my favorite drivers, Zane Smith as a youngster on this Next in Line insert.  We also have a Racing Relic and Masters of the Track Xplosion Parallel #/99.

Joey Logano's classic Pennzoil look.  He's a 3X NASCAR champion.

Martin Truex Jr, the 2017 NASCAR Champion.  Rated Rookie William Byron who is in the playoffs this year.

And retired greats.  Bobby Labonte won the NASCAR Championship in 2000.  His brother Terry Labonte won 2 Championships.  Fun box of cards.  Can't wait for these final 2 races of this season.

BREAKDOWN:
60 – Total Cards
15 – Retro 1985
8 – Race Kings
6 - Cars
6 – Legends
5 – Nickname Variation
2 – Rated Rookie
1 - Classics
1 – Next in Line
1 – Racing Relics
1 – Master of the Track
1 – Xplosion Parallel #/99
1 – Red Foil Parallel #/299

Random Wax: 2024-25 Panini Haunted Hoops (4 Packs)

24-25 Haunted Hoops:   Steph Curry is starting his 18th season. He averaged 26 points and shot 39% from deep in his age 37 season last year.

RJ Barrett and the Raptors will have Kawhi Leonard on board this season.  I'll be curious if that helps the Raptors take the next step.  Barrett has averaged almost 19 points per game over his seven seasons.  We have a Pumpkin and a Slime Parallel here.  I like the parallels.  There are also Holo Bats, Holo Sky, Holo Treats and Holo Webs parallels.

The backs have some spookiness to them as well.  It's definitely scary how good Steph still is at this age.

I'm a Domantas Sabonis fan and I'm hoping he'll have a bounce back year after being injured last season.  He led the league in rebounding 3 seasons in a row before being hurt last year.

BREAKDOWN:
12 – Total Cards
3 – Pumpkin Parallel
1 – Slime Parallel

2026 Score-a-Treat Multi-Sport (20 Packs)

2026 Score-a-Treat:   Ray Lewis is about as scary as any player out there.  He was a 7X 1st Team All-Pro.  For reference, the all-time leaders, Jerry Rice and Otto Graham, had 10X 1st Team All-Pro selections and Tom Brady, for all his greatness, was only selected 3X.

Not having a license in any of the major sports didn't scare Panini off from releasing a set specific to the Halloween season.  In this set you'll see baseball, basketball, boxing and football cards.  Here we have a Holo Bones Parallel #/149, Pumpkins Parallel, and Holo Webs Parallel.

Plenty of retired greats in this set and we get Calvin Johnson on a Slime Parallel.  I'm not usually a fan of sets with no team logos but I picked these up since they were new, they are cheap, and they are Halloween themed.  That Dan Fouts card is a base card with white borders.  He led the league in passing yards 4 straight seasons and passing yards per game for 6 seasons.

NIL players are a big part of the set including 19 of the 60 cads from these packs.  We also see RC cards.  Plenty of youngsters across the sports.

Monster Bash cards are one of the subsets.  Not sure how much I feel "monster bash" with this design.  I think they could have hammered that home better.

These cards are sold in a "bundle" like Panini's previous Halloween themed sets.  There are 40 packs per bundle with 3 cards in each set.

The design overall is fine.  I wish every card had a Halloween type of border but still these are okay.  I didn't see these at Wal-Mart so I did grab two bundles on eBay.  I'll share these in the upcoming years in 20-pack increments.

Haunted House is the other subset and I like these.  We get a haunted house in the background which gives us a good visual.  These are fun cards for the price and theme, and perfect for October.

BREAKDOWN:
60 – Total Cards
19 – NIL
12 – Monster Bash
8 – Pumpkin Parallel
7 – Slime Parallel
7 – Haunted House
4 - RC
3 – Holo Webs Parallels 
1 – Holo Skeletons Parallel #/149

Random Wax: 2023-2024 Haunted Hoops - 5 Packs

23-24 Haunted Hoops:   Anthony Edwards is only 25 and already a 2X All-NBA selectee.  He's averaging 24/5/4 on 36% long range shooting in his 6-season career.  I can't wait to see what the T-Wolves look like with newest addition LaMelo Ball.

Chris Paul retired after last season.  His 21-season Hall of Fame career saw him be a 11X All-NBA selection leading the league in assists 5X and steals 6X.  He was also a 9X All-Defensive Team member.  These cards are sold in "bundles" which have 20 packs with 3 cards per pack.

Jeremy Sochan saw his time on the court dwindle in San Antonio after being an All-Rookie selection and was traded to the New York mid-season.  While he only averaged 2 points a game for the Knicks, he did take home a championship ring.  We see Slime and Orange parallels here.  Slime is my favorite.  Orange is a bit dull. 

Trae Young will play his first full season with the Washington Wizards who also acquired Anthony Davis and selected AJ Dybantsa with the #1 pick in the NBA draft.  These are always fun cards and perfect for the season.

BREAKDOWN:
15 – Total Cards
3 – Orange
2 – RC
2 – Slime
1 – Rising Stars

2025 Score-a-Treat Football (20 Packs)

2025 Score-a-Treat:  Jordan Love and the Green Bay Packers have struggled this season and overall haven't quite been up to expectations in recent years.  He's only 28 and he and the Pack can still turn thing around.

This is another good Halloween inspired design.  Marlon Humphrey is a 2X 1st Team All-Pro and 4X Pro Bowl selection in his 10-year career with the Ravens.

Jeanty and Judkins are two of the good young running backs in the league.

I like the combination of spooky season and the NFL.  Good job Panini.

The backs are okay, but we don't see the same Halloween esque elements they added to the back of Panini's 2024 Score-a-Treat offering.  A step back in my opinion.  We also had Bats Parallels in that set.

I'd love to see Topps do something similar now that they have the NFL license.  Maybe even an insert set or some type of parallel would be nice.  These cards were sold in "bundles" which had 40 packs of 3 cards each.

And our retired greats.  Defensive back and Hall of Famer Ken Houston had 49 career interceptions while being named a 1st Team All-Pro 2X.  He played 6 of his 14 seasons with the Houston Oilers.

BREAKDOWN:
60 – Total Cards
20 - RC
6 – Retired Greats