The Racing Collectables Club of America and Lionel Racing posted the 10 best-selling 1:24-scale RCCA ELITE diecast cars for the season just past, and Dale Jr.’s cars earned fully 60 percent of the list.
MOORESVILLE, N.C. (Dec. 11, 2017) – There are certain things in life that will always be true. Grass is green, water is wet...and Dale Earnhardt Jr. reigns supreme on the NASCAR die-cast market.
The Racing Collectables Club of America and Lionel Racing posted the 10 best-selling 1:24-scale RCCA ELITE diecast cars for the season just past, and Earnhardt Jr.’s cars earned fully 60 percent of the list.
Tops among the list of ELITE diecast—the most detailed and extensive cars on the market with better than 260 separate parts—was, unsurprisingly, the Axalta “Last Ride” No. 88 Chevrolet that Earnhardt Jr. drove in his final race at Homestead-Miami Speedway last month. The actual car is now ensconced in the JR Motorsports shop, and is based on the No. 8 scheme he ran in 1999.
Ranking third on the list was the Nationwide No. 88 Chevrolet, which carried the throwback ACDelco paint scheme from his two Xfinity Series championship seasons (1998-99), in the Southern 500 at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway. The fifth-place diecast was the primary Nationwide Insurance paint scheme he raced much of the season.
The patriotic Nationwide scheme he raced at Charlotte in May ranked seventh, just ahead of the Mountain Dew/Ride With Dale No. 88 Chevrolet that Earnhardt drove in his final start at Talladega Superspeedway in October. Fans were able to register to have their names inscribed in the scheme, and he responded by earning his 15th NASCAR Cup Series pole.
In 10th place was the Nationwide “Gray Ghost” car that Earnhardt Jr. drove in his final start at Martinsville. He was originally slotted to drive it at Darlington in 2016, but missed the race due to concussion symptoms. Jeff Gordon ended up driving that car at Darlington, but the “Gray Ghost” scheme was chosen by fan vote for the race at Martinsville in 2017.
