Panini's NASCAR Chronicles is a disappointment

 When I learned that Panini was bringing the Chronicles brand to NASCAR, I was really thrilled. I thought it would be fun to get a great variety of designs into the sport, see some things we hadn't seen before. 

Then I got some. 

The more I look at it, the more disappointed I become. It's just gimmicks...but it's worse than just being a gimmick set, it's the SAME gimmicks over and over, in three basic forms. 

You have the base cards, which is the first problem- it's only 40 cards. Instead of one large set like the NBA release of 2019-20, it's one super small base set- the smallest Panini has given the sport- and each design is numbered as it's own insert, most 25 or less.

It's just a driver image in front of nothing, a computer generated waste of space.

Then you have a bunch of other designs which are just a driver standing in front of nothing, most taken at the Media Day before the season even begins.

Even this is a computer generated background, although it's superior to the other nothings shown.

Then we move on to the Holographic nothings...

The "Unparalleled" card...is a parallel. Yes, really! 

Then we move onto the Chromed nothings...

The last one, Phoenix, seems to be the most common. I pulled one in each of the four packs in the blaster, the only design to appear in every pack...although one was a Prizm...

Every single one of the designs shown, and several I didn't get in my blaster, has at least 7 parallels....including the one called Unparalleled. Don't get me wrong. I LOVE parallels. I'm one of the few people who does...but there's really no point in making a parallel of something with the base version is just so boring and bland...and inane. 

Who wrote this, a 5 year old? 

Each blaster promises an autograph or a relic, and that provided the closest thing to an action photo to be found:

Although calling this an action photo is quite a bit of a stretch, at least it's a real photo- not just some made up crap. 

It appears that there is not a single car photo to be found in this set at all. Apparently Panini doesn't know what NASCAR is all about.

I am constantly disappointed by Panini, every time they reveal a new checklist. But I think this may be the most disappointed I've been by one of their sets. I don't know if it's because the set is truly terrible, or because I built it up in my head so much, and it didn't come anywhere close to my expectations.

The sad thing is, I will still collect it as much as I can...because it appears to be one of only three sets they are bothering to give us this season, and more importantly, because they actually included ARCA and West/East drivers, something we rarely see on cards. For example, ARCA driver Brad Smith, who has been active since 1988, had only ever gotten one card before this release, and that was all the way back in 1992! By my calculations, there are 10 drivers who got their first ever cards in this set, only one of whom made an appearance in my blaster, Ty Gibbs, grandson of Joe Gibbs. Our current president also gets 2 cards- well, he gets one and his limo actually gets it's own card. I guess there is a car photo after all. 

They really missed the mark with this set. I can't believe I'm saying this, but I think I actually miss Press Pass. 

I'm going back to my scale modeling. That's been going great lately and is all NASCAR. At some point I'll carve out time to get up a post on my modeling blog. But I don't know when I will get the chance, because I have about 40 models to build right at arm's length, and right now, that's what I want to do, and will be doing.