For those of you NASCAR fans that like stats and love to hate commercials, here is the breakdown from the race on Saturday night.

Here is my breakdown, thoroughly unprofessional, and, hopefully, easy-to-understand.

I started recording the times as the Invocation for the race was given at 7:04 PM, and stopped at the waving of the checkered flag at 11:09 PM (all times are EST). I did not keep records for the pre- and post-race coverage.

Please note that in addition to all of the following, there is always a company logo visible in the upper right hand corner by the race ticker scrolling across the screen.

Bank of America 500 Race and Commercial Breakdown of 10-14-06

Items of interest this week: In addition to other promos during race time, there were three times that NBC added a crawler on the screen, just below the race ticker (promos for ‘Heroes’, ’30 Rock’, and NBCSports.com).

Also, NBC missed coming back to a restart once, after several races of getting back in time. On the other hand, twice NBC broke into a commercial to take viewers back to the race (once to see one of Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s advantageous pit stops, and once when Jeff Gordon’s engine blew up).

Total number of commercials: 142

Total number of companies or entities advertised: 78

Total number of brief promos of products/services during the race broadcast: 22

Total number of companies or entities advertised in brief promos or crawlers: 20 (companies: Bank of America, Ford, UPS, Coca-Cola, State Farm, Sony HD1080, Budweiser, Wrangler, Team Chevy, ‘Friday Night Lights’, ‘Heroes’, Toyota, Lowe’s, Subway, ‘RacetotheDream.com’, NFL-Broncos vs. Raiders game, Nextel, Miller Lite, Principal Financial, DLP)

Total amount of time these brief promos take during broadcast: app. 2 min. 45 sec.

Also, there is the following race statistics during the broadcast, sponsored by companies:

Budweiser ‘Bud Pole Award’
Bank of America ‘Higher Standard Moment’
Harley Davidson ‘Starting Grid’
Nextel ‘Race off Pit Road’
Allstate ‘Good Hands Driver Award’
DLP ‘Race Recap’
Miller Lite ‘Track Fact’ & ‘Race Fact’
Team Chevy ‘Driver to Watch’
Cingular ‘Race Talk Question of the Day’
Auto Zone ‘In the Zone Drivers’
NAPA ‘Field Summary’
AFLAC ‘Trivia Question’

Restarts missed due to being away at commercial: 1

Start time to record race/commercial periods: 7:04 P.M.
End time to record race/commercial periods: 11:09 P.M.

Total minutes: 245

Minutes of race broadcast: 174
Minutes of commercials: 71

Breakdown of what the commercials were for, by category:

NBC Previews/Promos

‘Friday Night Lights’ – 3
‘Las Vegas’ – 3
‘My Name is Earl’ – 2
‘Deal or No Deal’ – 2
‘Heroes’ – 2
NFL – Raiders vs. Broncos – 2
UCLA vs. Notre Dame football game – 2
Ellen DeGeneres Show – 1
‘Law & Order C.I. and S.V.U.’ – 1
NFL ‘Football Night in America’ – 1
Total: 19

Movie Previews

‘Flags of our Fathers’ – 1
Total: 1

Local News/Sports/Points-of-Interest in Penna.

Local news – 5
Local sports – 2
Allegheny General Hospital – 1
Pittsburgh.com – 1
Political ad (Rick Santorum) – 1
Baierl Automotive – 1
Total: 11

Restaurants/Food

Subway – 5
Pizza Hut – 2
Banquet pot pies – 1
Uncle Charlie’s Sausage – 1
Arby’s – 1
www.mycokerewards.com – 1
Total: 11

Beer

Miller Lite – 4
Budweiser – 3
Busch Lite – 1
Total: 8

Car/Truck/Bike

NAPA – 3
Toyota – 3
Ford – 3
Enterprise Rent-a-Car – 2
Harley Davidson – 2
Auto Zone – 2
Dodge – 2
Duralast Auto Parts at Auto Zone – 2
Advance Auto Parts – 2
Chevrolet – 1
GM Goodwrench – 1
Hyundai – 1
GMC – 1
CarQuest – 1
Star/Yamaha – 1
Suzuki ATV – 1
Total: 28

Credit Cards/Financial

Bank of America – 7
Principal Financial – 5
AmeriQuest – 1
Total: 13

Insurance

Allstate – 3
State Farm – 2
AFLAC – 1
Total: 6

Health/Medical

Highmark BC/BS – 1
Total: 1

Wireless Phone

Nextel – 6
Cingular – 1
Total: 7

Home Improvement

Home Depot – 3
Lowes – 3
Champion Windows, Siding & Doors – 1
Prizant’s Flooring – 1
Total: 8

Technology

DLP – 3
Sony SXRD HDTV – 2
DirecTV – 1
Total: 6

Products/Services for the Home and Personal Use

Wrangler Jeans – 3
www.usepropane.com – 2
Gillette Fusion – 1
ADT Security – 1
Sharpie mini – 1
Tylenol GoTabs – 1
Stanley Tri-Pod Flashlight – 1
Craftsman Tools – 1
Total: 11

Shipping

Fed Ex – 2
UPS – 1
Total: 3

Racing Related

nascar.com Trackpass – 5
‘Race to the Chase’ – 2
Coca Cola Racing Family – 2
Ford ‘Race to the Dream’ – 2
nascar.com performance – 1
NASCAR Foundation – 1
NASCAR Busch Series – 1
‘Subway 500’/Martinsville Speedway – 1
Texas Motor Speedway – 1
Atlanta Motor Speedway – 1
Total: 17

Breakdown of specific times, broken into two categories (race broadcast times, and commercial broadcast times):

Race brdcast times:Total min:Comm. brdcast times: Total min:

7:04 PM – 7:07 PM -3//7:07 PM – 7:10 PM – 3

7:10 PM – 7:13 PM – 3//7:13 PM – 7:14 PM – 1

7:14 PM – 7:26 PM – 12 //7:26 PM – 7:29 PM – 3

7:29 PM – 7:31 PM – 2 //7:31 PM – 7:34 PM – 3

7:34 PM – 7:43 PM – 9 //7:43 PM – 7:46 PM – 3

7:46 PM – 7:53 PM – 7 //7:53 PM – 7:56 PM – 3

7:56 PM – 7:58 PM – 2 //7:58 PM – 8:00 PM – 2

8:00 PM – 8:07 PM – 7 //8:07 PM – 8:09 PM – 2

8:09 PM – 8:19 PM – 10 //8:19 PM – 8:22 PM – 3

8:22 PM – 8:35 PM – 13 //8:35 PM – 8:38 PM – 3

8:38 PM – 8:44 PM – 6 //8:44 PM – 8:46 PM – 2

8:46 PM – 8:53 PM – 7 //8:53 PM – 8:56 PM – 3

8:56 PM – 9:04 PM – 8 //9:04 PM – 9:06 PM – 2

9:06 PM – 9:21 PM – 15 //9:21 PM – 9:25 PM – 4

9:25 PM – 9:31 PM – 6 //9:31 PM – 9:34 PM – 3

9:34 PM – 9:38 PM – 4 //9:38 PM – 9:41 PM – 3

9:41 PM – 9:47 PM – 6 //9:47 PM – 9:50 PM – 3

9:50 PM – 9:54 PM – 4 //9:54 PM – 9:56 PM – 2

9:56 PM – 10:06 PM – 10 //10:06 PM – 10:08 PM – 2

10:08 PM – 10:12 PM – 4 //10:12 PM – 10:14 PM – 2

10:14 PM – 10:16 PM – 2 //10:16 PM – 10:19 PM – 3

10:19 PM – 10:26 PM – 7 //10:26 PM – 10:29 PM – 3

10:29 PM – 10:34 PM – 5 //10:34 PM – 10:37 PM – 3

10:37 PM – 10:41 PM – 4 //10:41 PM – 10:44 PM – 3

10:44 PM – 10:47 PM – 3 //10:47 PM – 10:49 PM – 2

10:49 PM – 10:51 PM – 2 //10:51 PM – 10:54 PM – 3

10:54 PM – 11:00 PM – 6//11:00 PM – 11:02 PM – 2

11:02 PM – 11:09 PM – 7 //11:09 PM – checkered flag flies

Total race brdcst time: 174 min Total comm. brdcst time: 71 min