Danica Patrick Triple Relic - Bojangles' Southern 500

I think it was probably a bad move on my part to start a Danica Patrick PC, as her card prices seem to easily outpace the rest of the market. For example, I ran a search for completed 2016 Panini Prizm NASCAR cards and sorted it by price, and out of the top 15 sales, Danica had 7 spots (1, 3, 5, 6, 11, 13, and 15). The only other driver with more than one spot in the top 15 was Kevin Harvick (8, 9). I am by no means a big budget collector, so I have to pick and choose my spots. I try to get as many base cards and low-end relics as I can. When it comes to stuff that's a little more rare, I try to go for low print runs and unique relics. I have one or maybe two autographs, but nearly all of those are well outside my range for now.

This card wasn't exactly cheap, but it popped up with a Buy It Now price that I couldn't resist. I imagine the seller could have got 1.5x - 2.5x the asking price for this card, given the fact that it features multiple relics and a low serial number of # 08 / 25. It's a Prominent Pieces card from 2013 Press Pass Legends, and it's got shoe, firesuit, and glove swatches embedded in it. There are other versions of this card with different print runs, so I imagine it is some kind of parallel.

Today NASCAR ran the Bojangles' Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway in South Carolina. Going into the race, Danica had an average start of 35.30 and an average finish of 30.75 at this racetrack, which seems pretty bad to me. I am no numbers guru when it comes to statistics, but given that her career averages overall are a 25.90 start and a 24.35 finish it seems like Darlington is a place where she struggles. For this run, she started in 25th and finished in 24th, which shifted her average Darlington start by 2.10 places to 33.20 and her average finish at the track by 1.35 places to 29.40. Although it wasn't a top 20 finish or anything, it was an improvement. She also bypassed a dormant Dale Earnhardt Jr. (out for the season with a concussion) in the season points standings to move back into the 23rd position in the driver's standings for the year.

Another nice development for this race was that Josh Wise got a sponsor (Incredible Bank) and moved from a 40th place start to a 29th place finish in the race. For a car that typically runs in the back of the pack, a top 30 finish is not too shabby.