Diecast Update: Week of 8/10/26

With the summer bye week behind us, it was great to get back to racing at Iowa Speedway. It was announced that the track would be getting a repave that would start right after the race ended on Sunday. I'm undecided on whether or not that would be ideal as even the best drivers with the best cars had trouble navigating the treacherous turns. Ultimately, it was Ty Gibbs, and young crew chief, Tyler Allen who made a race wining call to take two tires on the final stop of the race. Gibbs, who is maturing before our eyes, used the strategy to his advantage to win for a second time this year. For a look at this, and more cars that were posted, read on.

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Raced Version: (Iowa)

Ty Gibbs is really coming into his own. Still young but no longer seeking his first win, Ty is  becoming the threat that the entire JGR organization has been hoping for. After winning at Bristol this spring in his Monster Energy Camry which could not be produced by Lionel Racing, a second win in the Sirius XM Camry will allow those fans who have been clamoring for a raced diecast to finally satiate that appetite. The car was absolutely caked in confetti. Good luck to the design team on this.

Carson Kvapil has now won back to back races, and the flood gates are truly wide open it seems. It was a really enjoyable O'Reilly race that took place on Saturday, and the Hyvee Perks 250 was filled with great racing and even some late race drama that saw several cars, including first time pole-sitter Ryan Sieg, get knocked out after a big wreck. Kvapil and the JRM No. 1 Bass Pro Chevy kept clear of the chaos and once he had the lead, he never let go. 

 Raced Version: (Colorado National Speedway)

Kevin Harvick continues to remind the racing world of his talent and racing abilities. Winning a CARS Tour West race at Colorado National Speedway last week, Harvick added another LMSC trophy to his collection. With Hunt Brother's Pizza on board for the occasion, we'll now be treated to two raced Chevy SS tools for Harvick after last week's Realtree 40th car was announced. I'm not worried about either car meeting MOQ, as there are so many loyal Harvick fans out there. 

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Standard Versions (Cup)

Chevy:

Ross Chastain continues to lead the way in 1/64 scale. He's got 15 standard paint schemes that have been announced or are already into production. The next closest drivers are sitting at 11 cars. This is another very eye catching design from Busch Light. Capitalizing on the race in Iowa, the brand really leaned into supporting the farmers with this car. Pretty great pastures, a picturesque barn, and awesome stars and stripes completed the look. I wanted to rank this one higher, but with so many it only made 12th.

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Ford:

Here's a car I was not prepared for. Aaron's, which has made some big steps to place their brand back in front of race fans, is rolling out their third paint scheme of the year for Zane Smith and the FRM No. 38 team. This car looks awesome. I wish that they had extended the design onto the rocker box, but it's a phenomenal car that is a day one preorder for me. The memorable Mustang does enough for me that I'm pushing this car into first place for Zane. This is Smith's 6th 1/64 for 2026!

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Toyota:

It's not surprising that we haven't had more cars representing Ty Gibbs in 2026. With one of his major sponsors not interesting in allowing Lionel to reproduce their logo, there have only been a few cars that could possibly be made. This upcoming weekend at Richmond, Victory Junction, the ultimate fun camp for those with the greatest needs that was developed by the Petty family in the remembrance of Adam, will be fully supported on the car. I really like this car, and I think this is going to be underrated. 

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LMSC/CARS Tour

If you didn't have the chance to catch the throwback classic CARS Tour race at Hickory over the weekend, you missed out on some of the best stock car racing available outside of the national touring Nascar series. Junior Motorsports and Caden Kvapil brought this awesome Jerky Boys Chevy that pays homage to Darrell Waltrip's Mt. Dew car. The rendition is phenomenal, and the design lends itself beautifully to the LMSC tooling. Gosh I hope this one makes MOQ. Kvapil brought it home 8th.

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Drop Preview Report

This week's Drop Preview Report is made possible by the great photographs posted in x.com by Circlebdiecast. Be sure to check out their unmatched selection. A high new wave of diecast cars have made it to distributers. Here stateside, we've got eight new 1.64s that have made their way from production to completion. Each of these cars are interesting, but the finished products that stand out most to me would have to be Chase Elliott's KBB Chevy (a car I've not been excited about) William Byron's All-Pro Chevy which I could say the same about and Jimmy Johnson's Carvana Truck. I should also give mention to Kayne Rigg's FRM Love's F-150 that made MOQ. 

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Conclusion:
​That's a wrap for this week. What started off looking like a smaller set of announcements slowly built up into a sizable group of preorders that, as usual, covers a wide swath of the stock car racing world. The Nascar young guns grabbed a couple of trophies this week, and Kevin Harvick remains a factor for 1/64 scale collectors based on his continued participation in the CARS Tour, and the availability to the LMSC tooling.

The preorder that I had to solidify this week was Zane Smith's Aaron's Dream Machine paint scheme. That car looks really clean, and it's a very memorable paint scheme too. With Richmonds single Cup race upon us, the new schemes for the week are beginning to roll out and there are already cars that have been added to the queue for next week's edition of the Diecast Update! That's all for now, we'll see you back here after the Cook Out 400. Until next time, keep on collecting! 

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Sources:
-Floracing.com
-Jayski.com
-Lionelracing.com
-Nascar.com
-racing-reference.info