A Josh Wise Autograph Pickup

Most of my NASCAR content lately has been Danica Patrick-centric, but there are a couple of other drivers whose cards I collect. One of those drivers is Josh Wise, who currently drives the #30 car for The Motorsports Group.

2016 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, California18-20 March, 2016, Fontana, California USAJosh Wise and Michael Annett© 2016, Nigel KinradeNKP
Posted by TMG - The Motorsports Group on Thursday, March 24, 2016

Wise seems to be a pretty good driver, but thus far has only been able to get into some under-equipped rides and generally spends most races either not finishing or running in the bottom 5-10 cars. It's got to be tough to be out there at the end of the pack week after week, but I guess at least he's still getting paid to be a race car driver and not out looking for a 9 to 5 job somewhere.

I did a search for his cards a couple of weeks ago and found quite a few deals on some things, especially once I factored in combined shipping with people selling multiple Wise items. One of the highlights from my searching was this autograph card from 2013 Press Pass Ignite. The autographs from this set are designed to scan as poorly as possible, turning the card background into a murky dark mess while highlighting the signed sticker and whatever bits of stuff are on the scanner glass. This card is actually quite attractive in-hand, as the dark mess in the center is a silver sunburst pattern surrounded by a nice blue color. The card is numbered # 10 / 25, which probably makes it some kind of parallel. Ever since Press Pass went under it is hard to look up their checklists for print runs and parallels.

The back of the card features the usual congratulatory text and a cropped version of the photo that was on the front. Pretty basic stuff. Just as I hope Danica Patrick can move into consistent top 15-20 finishes, I hope that Josh Wise can progress with his new team and move up into the 20's with his car. Getting faster requires money, though, and you need sponsorships to make money. It'll be a tough road for him, but hopefully he can grind it out and stay in a car.