Danica The National VIP Cracked Ice - Geico 500

This will be a short post. I had to work this weekend, and I am worn out. I didn't watch today's NASCAR race, the Geico 500 at Talladega Superspeedway, as I was working. I don't usually watch NASCAR races anyway, but sometimes I have an excuse for it. I was able to catch the NBA Playoff game between the Houston Rockets and the San Antonio Spurs, though, with the Rockets thankfully coming out and winning to tie the series at 2-2.

Danica Patrick had a rough day at the track, getting caught up in the big wreck near the end of the race and getting credit for a 38th-place finish. That dropped her down to 31st in the season standings, and makes for her 4th failure to finish a race out of 10 total races so far in the year.

I picked up this parallel from the 2016 Panini The National VIP set a while back. It's a Cracked Ice parallel, and numbered # 24 / 25. There isn't much else to say about it. It's a low-numbered parallel that features a photo from the same photo shoot used for most of Panini's NASCAR products so far.

More Panini The National VIP Danica Patrick - Hollywood Casino 400

I continue to be stymied in my attempts to gather Danica Patrick cards from 2016 Panini Prizm, but I've had a little luck in getting my hands on cards from Panini's sets from The National Sport Collectors Convention. Today's two cards come from the VIP set, which was printed on Prizm stock and packed out in gold-colored packaging.

This first one is a purple-colored Prizm of some kind. I wasn't able to find an official checklist for this set, so I don't know the official name for this parallel. It's shiny, though, and serially numbered # 12 / 50. There's not much else to say about it. It's a different color and shinier than the base card from the set.

My scanner doesn't like slabbed cards, and I was too lazy to take a picture with my phone, but this blurry card here is a basic Prizm parallel of the same card. It's not serially-numbered. I am not sure why someone had this card graded. It's got a 9.5 Gem Mint score overall, with all of the subgrades (Centering, Corners, Edges, Surface) also earning 9.5 scores. I got it for less than the cost of getting it graded.

Today's NASCAR race was the Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway. Danica has historically had kind of a tough go at this track, with an average start of 26.40 and an average finish of 24.00 over 8 races heading into today. She started this one in 19th and finished a spot higher in 18th, bumping her career numbers at the track up a bit to an average start of 25.60 and an average finish of 23.33. I'd say another Top 20 finish is pretty good, although she's still got a ways to go before being a consistent Top 15 driver.

2016 The National VIP Danica Patrick - Bank of America 500

Last time I did a NASCAR post, I showed off a card from 2016 Panini - The National. This time around, I have a card from that set's shiny sibling, 2016 Panini - The National VIP. The regular cards come from the silver-colored packs, while the VIP cards come out of the gold-colored packs. These cards are printed using Chrome Prizm technology, and there are plenty of whiz-bang parallels. I haven't had much luck in tracking down the parallels, but I was able to get this base card. Pretty cool stuff.

I have been meaning to get out there and finish my 2016 Panini Prizm NASCAR base set, but it seems like I never get around to it. I also haven't yet tracked down a Danica Patrick relic card from the set. It seems like they usually sell in the $12 range for the base tire relic, and I want to pay about $7 for one. I'll get one eventually.

Today's race was the Bank of America 500 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. It was scheduled for yesterday, but bad weather forced a delay. Danica has had some pretty good starts at the track in her career, with an average starting position of 16.90 over 9 races, but her finishes haven't been all that good and her average finish falls to 19.31. This time around she was able to boost her numbers, starting in 13th and finishing just out of the Top 10 in 11th place. Hopefully she can use these last few races in the season to pile up some more good finishes and get a jump on next year.