NEWS- Lionel Authentics 2022 Wave 1

As Lionel continues to work on polishing up the new Gen 7 moulds, they've also put the finishing touches on what will be the last wave ever, of Gen 6 cars. The wave appropriately highlights some of the most monumental wins of the 2021 season. There's lots to unpack as we await what should shortly be, the first round of Gen 7s...

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There are some really strong releases in Wave 1. All of the cars selected highlight winners across all three leagues in Nascar's national series. Getting good representation with the most cars is Chevy. with five, Toyota has three representatives in this set, and Ford has just two. The 'chase piece' for Wave 1 is a Liquid Color Kyle Larson Las Vegas Motor Speedway race win, a duplicate of the standard livery offered in the main  set. Some of these cars are probably in contention for Lionel's top sellers of the year in the 1/24 category. I know I've got two of them (Byron, and Blaney). 

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Kaulig Racing's First win at the Brickyard Road-course: AJ Allmendinger

In 2021, Matt Kaulig committed to nine races at the Cup level. For five of those races Kaulig Racing tapped the talents of AJ Allmendinger to turn the wheel of the number 16, the sole entry for the team in each of those races. Now, in 2022, we know that was simply to test the waters in preparation for two full time teams. 

As Nascar continues to make erratic and frequent changes in order to engage new fans, many details of the sport have evolved in ways both good and bad. One of the biggest changes lately has been a bigger dedication to road courses. In 2021 Nascar made a polarizing choice to take the sole trip to Indianapolis and make it a road course. One person who wasn't thrown off by this was road course servant, AJ Allmendinger. He didn't lead the race until the final two laps, but that was all he needed. This was his first win in the Cup series since 2014, and the first for Kaulig Racing in the Cup series as well. 

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Toyota Tundra southern region victories:  Kyle Busch

Kyle Busch made all five of his allotted Truck series starts in 2021 and won twice. One of those wins came in the form of a clinic he put on at Atlanta in the spring. Kyle led 102 of the 130 laps and crossed the finish line a whopping 4.133 seconds ahead of the next contender. 

It's always nice to get Trucks and Xfinity releases in the Wave sets. That being said, collectors are clamoring for a bit more diversity. There are many exciting teams in the Truck series and while this one is certainly 'marquee' enough to justify it as a member of this bunch, there are others that would have been more exiting. 

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Toyota Tundra southern region victories:  Ben Rhodes

Ben Rhodes is not a name most race fans are truly familiar with, but he's been a constant presence in the series since 2014. He's made six trips to victory lane at the time of this article. In all of those wins, he's been behind the wheel of a ThorSport machine. 

It doesn't matter what series you're in, there's absolutely nothing like winning at Daytona. Ben Rhodes has been a versatile driver, winning on mile and a halves, road courses, and dirt. Still, his back to back wins at Daytona, and at the Daytona road course in 2021 were special.

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​Kyle Busch and JGR Win at COTA 

Game changer. That's the best way I know how to describe Kyle Busch and all that he does. In 2021 he did something that no one has ever done, and it's likely no one will ever repeat. In his quest for 100 wins in the Xfinity series, Kyle Busch committed to his total allotment of five races. Then, he won all of them putting his Xfinity total at 102. To give you an idea about how astonishing that it is, the ext closest driver on the all-time Xfinity list is Mark Martin coming in at 49 wins. 

This 2021 Skittles Supra that won at the inaugural COTA race (KB win #98) is a nice nod to his accomplishments but, if you really cared about what he did that much, you probably splurged for the 'Gold Series' five pack that Lionel released as you should have. All that said, I'm not a big fan of the Supra mould, and won't be getting this one.

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Team Penske Plunders: Austin Cindric

It is somewhat misleading that Lionel commited a set slot to a Team Penske Xfinity car considering they haven't run any Xfinity races in 2022. Roger Penske did tell Sirius XM that there are plans for select races, but none have happened at this point, nor have any been announced. 

It seemed as though the 2021 Xfinity Championship was Austin Cindric's to lose. It all came down to a door banging finish in Phoenix that saw Toyota rival Daniel Hemric seal the deal and just like that Cindric's 2021 campaign fell flat. Looking back though, there is plenty for the 22 crew to be proud of, and the Brickyard Road-course win was one of those things. Cindric has established himself as a big threat road racer and would carry on with a short memory of that loss by taking the Daytona 500 in his full-time Cup debut.

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Team Penske Plunders: Ryan Blaney

Ryan Blaney has been a Cup regular since 2016. In that time he's netted 7 wins. 2021 was certainly an up year for Blaney with three of those wins taking place. Besides his early season win at Atlanta, and his mid-season win at Michigan, the biggest of the year came at the Daytona night race. I was lucky enough to witness that one in person. 

Blaney is certainly building a reputation of winning at the fastest tracks in Nascar. While winless in 2022 so far, Blaney laid claim to the All-Star race and has been competitive most weekends. This 1/64 scale race win is arguably the best in the Wave set considering that amount of confetti detailing they were able to get on the three inch long surface. This should be most people's top priority. 

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Road Course Ringer at COTA: Chase Elliott

Circuit of the Americas, as I mentioned earlier, was part of Nascar's greater initiative to bring a more diverse set of race tracks to the schedule in 2021. In it's inaugural Cup race however, it was of this writer's opinion that the racing wasn't as good as it was at the Daytona, or the Brickyard road-courses. Several on track accidents exposed Nascar's lack of readiness to deal with the rain. And many fans found it questionable when Nascar called the race after Chase took the lead on lap 50.

But none of that mattered to Chase Elliott as he celebrated after the rain shortened event. I will say the 2022 version of this race was far better and tells me COTA is best in the dry.

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One Win William: William Byron

While it's impossible to say that Hendrick Motorsports puts more effort into one car over the other three, it's something fans love to debate. While Kyle Larson was busy smoking the competition all season long, each of his teammates including Byron were still able to grab at least one win. Willy-B's victory came at Homestead just three races in to the 2021 season.

​While his momentum was short lived, he's already doubled his win totals in 2022 and is arguably the most consistent HMS wheelman. Good things to come for the 24. This is one of my favorite paint liveries of the 2021 season and I'm imagining this iteration will look really cool in person. It's high up on my want list next to the Blaney Daytona win.

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​Championship Chaser: Kyle Larson
​Serious question. Does Lionel get a deal on red, white, and blue paint? After 2021 they should. Kyle Larson strung together 10 wins. The last time that was accomplished was in 2007 by Jimmy Johnson. It has only ever happened 17 times in Nascar history where someone has taken ten or more in a season, and the most ever was 13. A feat only accomplished by Jeff Gordon and Richard Petty. It will be a long time before we are able to really appreciate what we witnessed. As a very small acknowledgment of that Lionel has made their chase piece this month a liquid color version of Larson's spring victory at Las Vegas. This is certainly enough to whet my whistle while I wait for that championship diecast to roll off the production line. 

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​Conclusion: 
I'm sure that you, like me wish that the first Wave of 2022, was true to it's name. That the first wave contained lots of new schemes on the new moulds. But understandably, Lionel is in transition on the production line and they gave us a "Greatest Hits" of 2021. There are some fantastic model race cars hitting the shelves in the first half of 2022, and they shouldn't be ignored. The Ryan Blaney Daytona win is an absolute cracker. Byron's Homestead win, and Allmendinger's Indi win are both 2021 essentials. Get your hands on them if you can!