Diecast Update: Week of 5/11/2026

Race number 12 of the 2026 season is now history. Shane van Gisbergen once again left his mark on the Cup series by putting together one of the most impressive road course race performances of all time. His Superfile Chevy along with many other new and interesting diecast are now up for preorder from Lionel Racing. There's something from each of the three main OEMS, and there's a new Dodge Ram in the mix as well. We've got four new Penske cars, a Coke 600 scheme, and some real good lookers in this bunch. For the full analysis of this week's 1/64 selection, read on...

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Raced Version: (Watkins Glen)

Starting this week off with what will likely be a very popular diecast. van Gisbergen put on another clinic at a historic Nascar road course. giving up the lead with around 25 laps to go, SVG made up 30 seconds and raced past the majority of the field with time to spare thrusting him once again into the conversation around being the all-time best road racer. Shane admitted to driving one of his best races ever giving fans a thrilling spectacle. This one is epic. 

Race number five, win number two in the O'Reilly series for Connor Zilisch in 2026. Jockey is celebrating their 150th anniversary this year and in doing so, they've arranged a special golden livery to draw attention to the impact the global brand has had. Zilisch ha a similar scheme in the Cup season already, but it was at Watkins Glen that he brought the company a huge victory. Zilisch has had a tough rookie season in the Cup series, but he's keeping his senses sharp in the O'Reilly series. 

Kaden Honeycutt has finally broken through. Kaden has steadily been climbing the ranks and proving his talent on American stock car circuits. When Corey Heim vacated the seat of the flagship No. 11 Tundra at Tircon Garage, Honeycutt was tapped to fill the role. Last year was Kaden's first full-time season in the Truck series, but has been active there since 2022. His first win comes on his 67th try. This special 'Foster Love' design looks especially nice. 

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Standard Versions (Cup)

Chevrolet:

The first special paint scheme for the Coke 600 from the Hendrick Motorsports stable was announced this week. Napa will be riding along with Chase Elliott at Charlotte Motor Speedway on Memorial Day weekend and this car looks very impressive. This is, in my opinion, the best patriotic Napa paint scheme that Elliott has ever had. I love the foil numbers and the flag stripes flow elegantly along the side of the race car. I don't love the placement of the other sponsors.

Well, this one was supposed to be in last week’s edition of the Diecast Update. This is a clever little livery from the HMS design team advertising Valvoline’s heavy duty line of motor oil. A quartet of diesel exhaust pipes send blue and red smoke that transitions into flame-like shapes that flow across the front and both sides of Byron’s Chevy. This car ran fairly well at Texas last week finishing in the 8th position. I've got this one ranked as the fourth best for Byron.

So, I don’t really know what I’m looking at here, but I like it. The car looks super cool. What the dragons have to do with anything I’m not sure. Perhaps this is something we’ll get more information on in the future. Or maybe it's just a HMS passion project to infuse some excitement back into Bowman's season. Bowman is set to bring this special edition Ally car to Dover for the All-Star Race next week. He is not locked into the event and will have to race his way in. 

Many fans may not realize that while Spectrum stepped up to sponsor Carson Hocevar in the 2026 season as a new partner at the Cup level, they have a history with Hocevar. Spectrum was there to sponsor Carson in his early racing days but they are back in a big way for what’s been a breakout season. While Spectrum isn’t an overly exciting brand, the car looks very clean. Spectrum has already picked up five races this year and has a best finish of 4th at Atlanta.

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Ford:

The fourth Austin Cindric 1/64 car of 2026 is also easily the best looking. While the majority of the Team Penske liveries don't excite, the PPG Paints design is one of the best in all of Nascar. PPG rode with Josh Berry and the Woodbrothers last year as Penske affiliate, but the vibrant splattered hues adorned Cindirc's Mustang at Kansas a few weeks ago. The car finished in the 12th position on what ended up being a quiet day for Austin. I've got this in the 1 spot for the 2.

We've gone a little while without a Blaney 1/64 announcement and now this week we've got two. The familiar Menards and Pennzoil mashup is back in 2026. It's a scheme that's basically been unchanged since Blaney rolled it out in 2018 although I'd argue that that version is superior to this one. But this car still looks proper, I've got it ranked 3rd out of the five Blaney cars announced so far, but I have a feeling once the Bodyarmor cars are revealed they will displace this one.

The second Ryan Blaney diecast this week features the return of the Advance Autocrats car. This is, so far, Blaney's most solid livery. This car has been visible on track once so far this year at Martinsville. Blaney finished 6th there. Advance picked up four races in 2025, so I'd imagine a similar deal is in place for 2026. The scheme itself is for all intents and purposes, completely unchanged from last year's. I've got this No. 12 paint scheme ranked first overall.

The final Ford for the week is Joey Logan's freshly revealed Pennzoil Ultra Platinum Mustang. This car once again uses the fade effect across the entire body of the car, a similar design style that we've already seen on Logano's Autotrader Mustang. I'm not a fan of the look, but I do favor this car compared to the Autotrader and so I've got it ranked at Joey's third best car of the year after his current usual Shell Pennzoil car, and his current best, the Scott McLaughlin throwback. 

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Toyota:

Out of the many cars that have not yet been offered in 1/64 scale, this was certainly not a car that I thought would have a strong chance of being produced. Admittedly, I'd be surprised if this car made MOQ, but for the sake of Wallace fans, I hope that it does. Wallace drove this car at Kansas to a 5th place finish, a personal best track for him, the week he was inducted into the Boys and Girls Club Hall of Fame. Not a bad design, but also inferior to his other four 1/64s.

The other Camry that was posted this week is Jimmie Johnson's Carvana Toyota that will be entered into the San Diego road course which is scheduled to take place at the Coronado Naval Base on June 21st. This car is meant to be striking, and it has a few nods to Jimmie Johnson's career while also vibing with California culture, but it doesn't quite hit for me. The livery feels incomplete especially towards the rear of the car. This is the second best of two Jimmie Johnson Carvana 1/64s in 2026.

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Standard Version (Trucks)

Cleetus McFarland continues his foray into the world of Nascar. After recently enjoying some notable success at Talladega, McFarland will be back in a Nascar vehicle. This time a Niece Truck in a yet to be announced race and with the support of Blues Hog bbq. We'll be sure to update the rendering as soon as the truck is revealed. 

Jumping over to Kaulig, we have another Ram truck being offered in 1/64 scale to commemorate the brief return of Parker Kligerman to the Truck series. Kligerman drove this Texas themed Dodge to a very nice 11th place finish, the best out of all the Ram trucks in the race. This number 25 Ram continues to see an interesting selection of celebrity drivers. This past week at Watkins, AJ Allmendinger got the nod. This should be a nice 1/64 if MOQ is met. 

Telcel has partnered up with Niece Motorsports and Andres Perez of multiple races in 2026. So far, Telcel has supported Perez at Darlington and Bristol. Telcel most recently arrived in Nascar last year when they took up a role supporting Daniel Suarez during the Mexico City race. It's nice to have the brand back in the fold, and Niece did a great job with this Chevy Silverado. This is the first 1/64 for Perez, and the fifth, (and probably best looking) 1/64 the's been announced for Niece Motorsports.

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Drop Preview Report

Thanks to a post on social media by Circle B Diecast, we have our first visual of the 8th standard 1/54 of the 2026 season. This is Kyle Larson's Hendrickcars.com scheme which is one of two standard schemes that have been announced for Larson thus far. This is also the 4th Hendrick 1/64 of 2026 and the 4th Chevy that Lionel Racing has produced. 

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Conclusion:
This was another great week for Lionel. Once again there's something good from each of the major three OEMs. The continued rate of 1/64 scale Cup cars is really impressive, and I've yet to see or hear about a single Cup car not making the minimum order quantity required to make it into production. We've had 8 of  the currently announced 140 different standard cars from 2026 already reach the market so we'll continue to monitor those numbers as the season goes on. 

This week specifically offers many more very interesting race cars. As far as standard paint schemes go, the Chase Elliott patriotic Napa Chevy, and the Team Penske PPG Mustang are flat out the best looking. The dragon themed car to be driven by Alex Bowman in the All-Star race is also a top pick. The Superfile Trackhouse Chevy that will be sure to have all of the raced details from Watkins Glenn will be very hard to pass on, especially considering the history SVG is currently making. That's all for this week on the Diecast Update, we'll see you back here next week after Dover! 

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