Buzz Break: 2016 Panini Torque NASCAR cards (hobby box)

From time to time, Buzz will break a box of something and post the results here. Like this and want to see more? Or maybe there's a box you'd want to see busted? Send Buzz an email at BlowoutBuzz@blowoutcards.com.

The box: 2016 Panini Torque NASCAR cards (hobby box)
Where to buy: BlowoutCards.com (for a couple formats)

Keep reading for a full breakdown and gallery of images that was in this one.

Packs per box: 5
Cards per pack: 10
Cards in this box: 50
Base set completion: 
28 of 100 (28 percent)
Duplicates: 0

Base cards – Jimmie Johnson, Darrell Waltrip, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Kevin Harvick, Kyle Busch, Kasey Kahne, Terry Labonte, Austin Dillon, Ty Dillon, Ryan Newman, Denny Hamlin, Daniel Henric, Landon Cassill, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Trevor Bayne, John Hunter Nemechek, Daniel Suarez, Clint Bowyer ... Cars: Chase Elliott, Kevin Harvick, Danica Patrick, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Brad Keselowski, Richard Petty

Rookie Cards (3) – Chris Buescher, Erik Jones, Brandon Jones

Insert cards: 17 (all cards from box in gallery below)
Gold parallel (2) – Joey Logano, Matt DiBenedetto
Blue parallel (2) – Tyler Reddick, David Ragan (/125)
Purple Parallel (1) – Matt Kenseth (/25)
Pole Position (1) – Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
Victory Laps (1) – Clint Bowyer
Painted to Perfection (1) – Kyle Busch
Horsepower Heroes Gold (1) – Casey Mears (/199)
Special Paint Gold (1) – Greg Biffle (/199)
Race Kings Gold (1) – Ned Jarrett (/199)
Helmets Blue (1) – Dale Earnhardt Jr. (/99)
Winning Vision (1) – Matt Kenseth
Clear Vision Gold (1) – Martin Truex Jr. (/149)
Championship Vision Red (1) – Tony Stewart (/49)
Superstar Vision Gold (1) – Carl Edwards (/149)
Superstar Vision Blue (1) – Mark Martin (/99)

Autographs/Memorabilia: 5
Pairings Materials (2) – Denny Hamlin & Carl Edwards, Kevin Harvick & Danica Patrick (/249)
Driver Scripts Red (1) – Collin Cabre (/49)
Silhouettes Firesuit Signatures Blue (1) – Josh Wise (/35)
Jumbo Tire Signatures Purple (1) – Ryan Newman (/10)

What's Buzz-worthy: Back when this one arrived I ripped just a single blaster box and never followed up on it due to the simplicity of the base card design and the dark look, which seems a bit like a tire homage and I think works for NASCAR ... just not without the simple photos without much variety on every card. (Note the difference between the Earnhardt base card and those that followed.) But I found a hobby box on the cheaper side of the spectrum where you get a hit per pack (blasters are one hit per, too) and hobby boxes assure you of three signed cards every time. You get a bunch of inserts here -- a mix of parallels, acetate cards, traditional inserts with and without serial-numbering -- and that helps but the star here is on the hits level. There are a lot of big names to be found here but they are in lower volume. This box delivered pretty well with hits on the rarer side and the Newman card has a nice swatch ... that helps here but I think my original product grade (B) still feels right. A hobby box is fun, though. If you buy blasters in volume you should have a decent replicated volume as you would here -- same number of hits, even -- just without the lock of getting three autos (and probably some stuff only in hobby). With the Daytona 500 set for Sunday I figured I'd check out some NASCAR and if the price is right I'd do this one ... but I think some of the younger talents found in 2018-today will have more up-side.

Product Grade: B
Box Grade: A
Fun Grade: B+ (good variety among inserts and hits ... little visual variety with base set)

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