Buzz Break: 2017 Panini Absolute Racing cards (10 blasters)

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: 2017 Panini Absolute Racing cards (10 blasters; half-case)
Where to buy: BlowoutCards.com

Packs per box: 1
Cards per pack: 5
Cards in this lot: 50
Base set completion: 
16 of 100 (16 percent)
Duplicates: 2

Base cards – Joey Logano (2), Denny Hamlin (2), Kyle Larson, Danica Patrick, Cale Yarborough, Tony Gibson, Geoff Bodine, Harrison Burton, Dale Inman, Jeff Burton, Joey Gase, Ned Jarrett, Clint Bowyer, Jamie McMurray, Aric Almirola

Rookie Cards (1) – Ty Dillon

Insert cards: 22 (all cards from 10 boxes in gallery below)
Icons (3) – Bill Elliott, Dale Jarrett, Mark Martin
Icons Spectrum Gold (1) – Bobby Labonte (/99)
RPM Spectrum Blue (1) – A.J. Allmendinger (/199)
RPM Spectrum Gold (1) – Martin Truex Jr. (/99)
Action Packed Spectrum Red (1) – Brad Keselowski, Jimmie Johnson (/149)
Precision (2) – Joey Logano, Austin Dillon
Spectrum Silver (6) – Ty Dillon, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s Chevy, Trevor Bayne, Kurt Busch, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (/299)
Spectrum Blue (4) – Danica Patrick, Mark Martin, Derrike Cope, Michael Waltrip (/199)
Spectrum Red (1) – Joey Logano (/99)
Spectrum Gold (1) – Tyler Reddick (/25)

Autographs/Memorabilia: 10
Absolute Memorabilia (1) – David Ragan
Tools of The Trade (3) – A.J. Allmendinger, Alex Bowman, Paul Menard
Tools of The Trade Spectrum Silver (1) – Erik Jones (/99)
Tools of The Trade Dual (1) – A.J. Allmendinger
Tools of The Trade Dual Spectrum Silver (1) – Brad Keselowski (/99)
Tools of The Trade Signatures (1) – Cole Whitt
Tools of The Trade Signatures Spectrum Red (1) – Garrett Smithley (/25)
Team Tandems Signatures Spectrum Blue (1) – Corey Lajoie & Gray Gaulding (/35)

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What's Buzz-worthy: With today being Panini National Racing Card Day and these 20-box case lots being less than $100 though the weekend, I opted to break one since this brand is one of my favorites from the Panini run so far because there is more upside here than you might expect for blasters. As said before, these boxes are just a single pack and they're ultimately a hobby pack with a hit and then a numbered card and an insert guaranteed. These were simply the first 10 boxes I ripped from my case and -- spoiler alert -- you'll see even more ink in the second half, which will run in this month's #Buzz8in8 marathon soon. There are numbered parallels -- sometimes more than one -- in every pack along with a hit every time. The base set includes past and present names with some bigs in there, while the hits probably lean more toward the younger side. This run of 10 boxes included Panini's company-branded driver, Gray Gaulding on an impressive dual auto-mem card that, ironically, I had pulled a different parallel for in a previous blaster break. Every auto pulled here is on-card -- a plus -- though the stock on these thick hits is soft so you will see some wear. (Bummer but it comes with the territory with hits and on-card ink.) Almost half of the cards in these boxes were numbered and generally speaking it felt like a pretty good rip from a collector standpoint. The resale can be hit and miss unless you land a big name but at a quarter of the original price I'm not all that worried about it. All in all, I liked this break and the presence of a dual-auto and a relatively rare patch-auto card shows that there's some heat to be found here.

Product Grade: A-
Box Grade: A
Fun Grade: A (ripping in cheap volume makes dud boxes less painful and everything more fun)

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