Pack of the Day 149: One Blaster of 2016 Panini Torque Racing

If I am remembering correctly, I have never pulled a great NASCAR hit from a blaster box. That's why I usually only buy discounted blasters. That practice at least takes 40% of the sting out of wasting my money. But, with the release of 2016 Panini Torque Racing I threw that policy out the window and decided to try a blaster, knowing I would never pay full price for a Hobby box with several hits in it.

You only get 8 cards per box, as the big draw here is the guaranteed autograph or relic card. Dale Earnhardt Jr. is the cover boy for this product.

The pack is blue and shiny with a checkered flag motif for the border.

There are about a million different inserts, memorabilia, and autograph variations. I wish Panini would list odds on their packs, but I don't see that changing any time soon.

I pulled five base cards. Here are four of them. None of these are drivers I collect specifically. It's a decent-looking set. I would consider buying a complete base set of this product, but I haven't really looked into that at all.

Here is the fifth base card, featuring the car of 2016 NASCAR Champion Jimmie Johnson. I don't collect Johnson's cards, but I do like trading cards featuring the race cars.

The pack also contained a parallel, an insert, and the promised hit. The parallel is an unnumbered Gold card of John Hunter Nemechek. He races in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, and is most recently famous for running Cole Custer into the wall to win the Chevy Silverado 250, and for being tackled after the race by Custer.

My insert is a David Pearson Race Kings card. The hit is a Dual Materials Red card of Matt DiBenedetto. It's got swatches of firesuit and sheet metal, and is numbered # 061 / 149.

Well, that break went about how my NASCAR blaster breaks usually go. I probably won't be picking up another blaster of Torque (until they go into the clearance bin and I lose my resolve). The cards look nice and the hits look really nice, but it is almost always financially more sensible to pick up singles on the secondary market.