Diecast Update: Week of 2/23/26

Week 2 of the Nascar season brought another round of fantastic super speedway racing that saw multiple lead changes and some truly engaging action. An incredible back-to-back win by Tyler Reddick and Co. capped off another really strong weekend for the stock car racing league. All three of the race winning cars will be offered in 1/64 scale and they head off another stacked addition of the Diecast Update. This week there are seven standard Cup schemes being offered, three O.A.P.S. Chevy's and a Truck plus the first historical special set of 2026. For all the details, read on...

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Raced Version: (Atlanta)

After spinning out in a massive wreck on the Atlanta front stretch last Sunday afternoon, there was seemingly little hope for Tyler Reddick to do the unthinkable. Serious damage, and the loss of the right front fender on his Pinnacle 23XL Toyota Camry should have eliminated him from contention. The No. 45 team kept on going however, and unbelievably, with a late race surge and some luck, Reddick crossed the finish line first on lap 271. This is going to be a huge challenge to recreate in 1/64. 

He's finally done it, after 15 second place finishes, Sheldon Creed has broken through in the O.A.P.S. series. Creed waited in an unsuspecting position as Ross Chastain and Austin Hill gave it everything at the end of the race. Haas FT's switch to Chevy seems like it's been a good move thus far. If this car reaches production it will be the first Cole Custer diecast  since he's arrived at the race team. Road Ranger has only appeared on a Nascar diecast once. 

There's no denying that Kyle Busch still has some unbeatable skills While it's been years since he's visited victory lane in the Cup series outside of winning a duel last week at Daytona, Kyle Busch has won three years in a row while driving a Spire Truck at Atlanta. Lionel will have no trouble at all copy-pasting this livery as we've seen the Hendrickcars.com Silverado in victory lane many times before. Busch now boasts 68 wins in the Truck series. 

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Standard Versions (Cup)

Chevy: 

We’ve seen many schemes for Wendy’s over the past few years, but this one may be the most inspired. The car features a white base with a red hood. The Wendy’s logo is nicely sized and placed on the hood, and red and light blue checkers swoop and flare back down the side of the car. Blue foil numbers, and the iconic Wendy’s bright red braids complete the look. I hope they use this scheme a lot this year. ​This car is currently my top rated Chastain scheme. 

Kubota has sponsored Ross Chastain since 2022, so it’s no surprise to see that partnership continue in 2026. He brought the company its first Nascar Cup series win in 2024 at Kansas. This year’s Kubota scheme is the same sort of style as last year’s, but the colors are basically inverted, what was once orange is now black, and what was black is now orange. Not the most interesting design here. All of the main Trackhouse primaries are present as well.

I don’t think I’d go so far as to say the Tootsies car this week is uninspired, but it sure feels like a far cry from the dynamic liveries we’ve seen in the past. A new Tootsies location will be opening up in Panama City, and the rendition is certainly meant to stand out compared to other designs to make this detail known. For me, it’s a miss. If the 1/64 itself has the special sparkle that the 1/1 car has, this model could be redeemed to some degree, but this is a low tier offering. ​

Ford:

Autotrader continues to hang on to a couple of races each year. They usually give a race or two to both Austin Cindric and Joey Logano. Each driver gets an inverted version of the same scheme. Joey Logano’s blue based livery was revealed last week, and this week we get the Cindric version with an orange base. This car, like many other Penske cars we’ve seen this year already features the faded logo look that I’m not a fan of. Cindric crashed this car at Atlanta during the spring race there. Finish: P 26.

Discount Tire will spread the wealth across all three full time Penske Teams this year. Even though the brand was largely brought to the Cup series by Cindric and made iconic by his Daytona 500 win, Blaney added his own pages to the story with a huge win at Martinsville a few years ago to send himself to the final round of four. The paint scheme remains unchanged this year. It’s not a flashy scheme, but this just looks like a proper race car. ​

The goofy pickle brand Grillo’s returns to Nascar and Front Row Motorsports in 2026. They will be aboard Todd Gilliland’s No. 34 Mustang for multiple races for 2026. I’ve somehow missed out on most of the Grillo’s cars except for the Sonic/Grillo’s mashup that adorned Ty Gibb’s Camry at Atlanta last year. This car is the better of the two cars for Gilliland this year, and is at the top of my list of schemes for him. This livery received a minor revision compared to last years’ version with a slightly higher cheatline. 

Toyota:

While the Robinhood sponsored cars are certainly loud in their appearance, I don’t think they look like a complete paint scheme per se. But 23XL fans looking to get ahold of Corey Heim’s first Cup series 1/64 scale diecast have to wait no longer. ​Mission almost accomplished for Heim as he brought this car home 28th and one lap down during the 2026 Daytona 500, his 8th ever Cup race. I'm sure we'll see him behind the wheel of the 67 more in 2026.

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

Whelen is back with RCR in 2026. Jesse Love will look to demonstrate continued growth in the O'Reilly series. Jesse won 1 race in 2024, 2 races in 2025, and I'd expect him to either meet or exceed that benchmark again this year. The Whelen No. 2 RCR Chevy appears virtually unchanged compared to last year's version. This  is another long-standing and recognizable paint scheme. The car looks good but there's not much excitement to be found. 

This will be Sam Mayer's 5th full time season in the O'Reilly series, and his third full season with Haas FT. Mayer has 8 wins in the series, four coming from his time at JRM, and four so far with Haas FT. After Sheldon Creed's impressive victory this past week at Atlanta, these Chevy's look like they will be fast this year, and I think 2 to three wins is truly attainable. This car has Audibel livery has never been produced by Lionel Racing, the lime green foil numbers...

Another Sheldon Creed diecast being offered this week is the updated Ollie's car. The paint scheme looks really good, and the ratios of the colors make sense. The No. 00 is unique, and the sponsor is unique as well. I like this car, and hope it gets produced. Two Sheldon Creed cars in one week is certainly unusual, but maybe that's a sign of things to come for the O.A.P.S. veteran. He has 138 start so far. 

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Standard Version (Trucks)

Perhaps the most unexpected 1/64 this week is another Truck from the Craftsman series. Tyler Reif ran just one race year in the Truck series. That race with the final of the year at Phoenix. Reif finished in 9th place impressively. He won't be full time in the Truck series this year, but he will be the anchor driver. I expect good things out of this young driver from Henderson, Nevada. This is a good looking truck. I especially like the foil numbers and the light blue mixed in with the black and white primary colors. 

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Special Sets (Cup)

I give Lionel Racing a lot of credit for consistently trying to tap into Nascar's rich history. It was unknown to me before this set was released that Kyle and Richard Petty swapped seats. Lionel is now offering either as a set, or as individual cars, the 1981 Monte Carlo STP Chevy's that the drivers raced at Riverside. This is a nice little casting, and it's seen some good use in the past. This pari will be really hard to take a pass on. 

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Conclusion:
It's been a tall task keeping up with all of the amazing offerings that are coming out of Lionel HQ. As many collectors are recognizing, many more preorder offerings are making into production. We may be looking at a renaissance of Nascar diecast collection, especially in the 1/64th scale. 

It's been another week of really cool and interesting new race cars that are now available for fans to preorder. Ross Chastain's Wendy's Ford, Todd Gilliland's pickle car, and Corey Heim's Robinhood 23XL Camry are all on my immediate 'must  have list.' There's good reason to pick up two or three more. This weekend, Nascar heads off to Texas for the annual road course thriller at Circuit of the Americas. That race always produces great racing, and many fun and exciting one-off paint schemes that some of which are sure to make it into the preorder spread next week. That's all for now! See you back here next week for the Diecast Update!

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