Diecast Update: Week of 5/18/2026

Nascar's All-star race experiment in Dover is over and the racing league now turns their attention to one of the biggest races of the year, The World 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. While there is a lot going on in the world of Nascar, buzz about the various driver contracts in play, and many special events leading up to this weekend's big race, there's plenty of things to discuss around many recent preorder announcements that have been made in the realm of 1.64 scale. A floury of patriotic cars and new sponsors fill out this week's edition of the Diecast Update. For that and more, read on...

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Raced Version: (Dover)

I think the main thing that we learned this weekend is that Dover deserves to stay on the schedule. The fans support it, the drivers enjoy it, and the racing is very good. Denny Hamlin took full advantage of a new format that left many All-star drivers out of the main event. Keeping his nose clean, and defending against his teammate in Chase Briscoe, the No. 11 team brought home the million dollar check. This is Hamlin's second All-star win, his first in 11 years. 

Corey Day's 2026 season made a complete 180. After beginning the season with a collection of blunders, the young driver with tremendous support from the HMS ranks has found his way winning two races in the last three weeks. The young talent is developing quickly and the discussion around him has now turned to one focused on if Day should join the ranks of the Cup series. In the meantime, I'm sure we will see Day continue to collect wins. 

While Kyle Busch continues to struggle at RCR, his fortune in the Truck series has been much better. Adding to his collection of wins at Dover, Busch now boasts 69 trophies from the Craftsman series. The program that Spire has built around the infrastructure that Kyle Busch provided from the remains of KBM have transformed Spire into the top Chevy team. This is clearly the team's 'fun money' sand box where they are continuing to create, and win. 

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Standard Versions (Cup)

Chevrolet:

Moving on into the Cup series standard scheme category, first up is fifth standard 1/64 offering for Austin Dillon on the 2026 season, and the fourth Bass Pro/Winchester design of the year. This particular car is designed to advertise Winchester's 'Long-Beard' ammunition. While Dillon has certainly received criticism in recent years for performance issues, he's undoubtedly skilled on super speedways. Dillon survived  a typical Talladega race to finish 18th. 

Anduril Industries, a major government defense contractor, has been a catalyst in part for the involvement of Nascar at the U.S. Navy's Coronado base in San Diego. Anduril will sponsor the special road course that will take place next month, and in an extra measure, they will also sponsor HMS driver William Byron. The Anduril 1/64 scale diecast is 9th Byron standard scheme to date, and I think it's the worst one yet. Maybe it's for some, but it's not for me. 

What is for me is this second William Byron scheme, the annual 'Axalta color of the year' scheme is here. Axalta deployed their 'Solar Boost' color onto William Byron's No. 24 HMS Chevy for the All-star race at Dover. Byron had a good day to Dover, he escaped a collection of early crashes in the first two segments and threatened for the lead while running all 200 laps. Byron was able to finish the day in 7th place. This is the first Axalta scheme of the year.

Not to be outdone by competition Chumba Casino, Modo Casino has also seen an opportunity to make their brand known in Nascar through a partnership with Spire Motorsports. Modo Casino has picked up multiple races with Spire in 2026, but only once has this special scheme taken to the race track. Displayed at Texas Motor Speedway at Fort Worth in May of 2026, this lone star car finished in 27th just a lap down. This is the third 1/64 for Michale McDowell, and the best looking. 

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Ford:

The Memorial Day weekend is periodically a big activation for BodyArmor, Team Penske, and Ryan Blaney. Every year during this time a special paint scheme featuring the sports drink brand is produced and this year, the design is especially patriotic. This car was announced several months ago, but was not immediately revealed, so while this isn't technically a new car this week, it was recently uncovered. This is a sharp looking Mustang that is quite clearly the best looking race car Blaney has had this year. 

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Toyota:

For the first time in 2026, Chumba Casino bounces from Tyler Reddick's car to Bubba Wallace's 23XL Camry. Chumba Casino brings to the forefront the game, King Croc Fury. Wallace's Toyota features a cool stylized crocodile eye and the reptilian green and black colors to create a very eye catching paint scheme. Bubba drove this car at Fort Worth a few weeks ago and managed to bring the car home in the 10th position.

SiriusXM radio has partnered with Tyler Reddick for several seasons. They've been on his car once this year so (Martinsville, spring), and there he finished in the 15th position. This isn't the most exciting livery, but it is clearcut. I believe that we will see the SiriusXM car on a few more occasions this year, but when I can not say. I've got this car ranked as the 6th best Reddick point scheme of 2026 in 1/64 scale out of a group of 8 cars that being offered so far. 

Another high profile sponsor is back in Nascar, Rockstar energy has signed on with 23XL for multiple races in 2026 with Tyler Reddick. The quiet exodus of Monster Energy from the 23XL No. 45 program leaves space for new partners. Monster still sponsor's Riley Herbst, so they aren't gone from the company altogether, but this sure seems like a house divided! It's impressive to see 23XL lock up new deals with companies like Rockstar Energy. This car vaults into the third spot in my rankings. 

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Standard Versions (O.A.P.S.)

A couple of nice looking JRM Camaros make their first appearance last week at Charlotte Motor Speedway during the Charbroil 300 on May 23rd. I was glad to be able to see this race in person, and both of these JRM cars demonstrated great speed. Registix has continued to support the JRM outfit in multiple events this year so far, but the standard Registix paint scheme that we saw for the first time last year that played a big part of Connor's rookie campaign is back in 2026. Connor's best finish in the car so far is 6th. The other patriotic Chevy shown below was one that looked like it was going to win the race. Justin Allgaier got out to a nice lead early, but then the rain came sending the event into an hours long delay. When the track was finally dry and the cars took off again, Allgaier wasn't able to keep his position on the track due to a bad strategy call. Allgaier was never able to recover, and he finished 29th. 

A car that's ended up as quite a surprise on the Lionel website is this No. 0 Camaro from SS Green Light Racing. Garrett Smithley and the Moorseville, North Carolina based O'Reilly team brought this Easter themed race car to Rockingham last April that was designed to focus on the holiday rather than any commercial partner. Smithley brought the Easter Chevy back in 29th, just a few off of the lead lap. I'm sure this is interesting to some, (not me) but I do love that Lionel is open to giving the small teams these types of chances. 

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Standard Version (Trucks)

Back in April, a number of high profile drivers joined the Craftsman Truck field to compete for a sword at the last great colosseum. After 250 laps, Briscoe, and his Tricon Garage Tundra sponsored by Mobil 1 and Hasty Bake charbroil grills finished 14th and on the lead lap. Briscoe has enjoyed a good race, and while he didn't yield a top 10 result, his truck looked especially good. This is the 6th 1.64 announcement for Tricon, and the first Truck in 2026 for Briscoe. I think we are yet to see a bad Mobile 1 scheme. 

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HMS Patriotic Pack:

As Hendrick Motorsports has grown their branding presence across all three of Nascar's top divisions over the past several years, they have designed a variety of patriotic paint schemes that help to emphasis the time of year between Memorial Day and the Fourth of July. This collection of cars from HMS, JR Motorsports, and Spire are all now available from Lionel Racing. The primary four cars shown to the right are also available in a special four car pack. 

The only Cup car from the group is this No. 5 HMS Chevy that Kyle Larson will drive at the Coke 600 in Charlotte on Memorial Day weekend. This car leads of the fleet that will also feature Rajah Caruth, Chase Elliott, Corey Day, and Kyle Busch. I really like the design of these cars, I think the darker blue with a metallic sheen will resonate on track, snd the solid red stripes that run the length of each vehicle actually play well into the longer title of the primary sponsor. I'll be getting the Larson.

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Conclusion:
With the Coke 600 taking place this weekend, the lion's share of the 1/64 offerings from this week are going to be patriotic in nature. There's obviously a good handful of cars this week that fit into that category, and I'm sure there will be more next week as well.

There are some great new preorder options for collectors this week, in the raced category, and the standard Cup series categories with at least one ew car for each OEM. The standout pieces this week have to be Denny's All-star win, Kyle Busch's Truck win, Byron's Axalta car, and Tyler Reddick's Rockstar Energy Toyota. We look forward to recapping all of the new releases this week as they are made available, we'll see you back here next time on the Diecast Update!

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