Panini to produce NASCAR trading cards

Panini America announced Tuesday night at the Industry Summit in Hawaii that the company had reached a trading card licensing agreement with NASCAR beginning with the 2016 seaosn.

NASCAR has not had trading card partner since Press Pass closed its doors early last year. Their final racing product, 2015 Press Pass Cup Chase Racing, was released in November 2014.

Panini has four racing releases planned for 2016, according to their presentation given to distributors on Tuesday. They will include Prizm, Certified, National Treasures and a new product called Torque. No releases dates were announced.

Rumors of a potential Panini/NASCAR deal began circulating last week after 2015 NASCAR Xfinity Series champion and current Sprint Cup series driver, Chris Buescher, posted a picture to Instagram of signed trading card stickers that looked similar to the ones used by Panini.

The 2016 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season began last Sunday with the 58th running of the Daytona 500. Denny Hamlin won the race over Martin Truex, Jr. in the closest finish in Daytona 500 history.