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

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 3:20 PM, and stopped at the waving of the checkered flag at 7:01 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.

Race and Commercial Breakdown of The Checker 500 11-12-06

Total number of commercials: 149

Total number of companies or entities advertised: 78

Total number of brief promos of products/services during the race broadcast: 32

Total number of companies or entities advertised in brief promos or crawlers: 21 (companies: Principal Financial—mentioned several times as sponsor of the Checker 500, Sony, Bank of America, Home Depot, Nextel, Wrangler, Budweiser, Best Buy, NAPA, NFL on NBC, NFL on NBC ‘Flex Game’—Bears vs. Giants, ‘Deal or No Deal’, ‘Heroes’, ‘Studio 60’, Allstate, Ford, AmeriQuest, ‘Notre Dame vs. Army’ game, Team Chevy, Miller Lite, Craftsman Tools)

Total amount of time these brief promos take during broadcast: app. 2 min. 25 sec.

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

Budweiser ‘Bud Pole Award’
Harley Davidson ‘Starting Grid’
Nextel ‘Race off Pit Road’
Allstate ‘Good Hands Driver Award’
DLP ‘Race Recap’
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: 0 (but on two occasions they got back from commercial just in time—too close to call)

Start time to record race/commercial periods: 3:20 P.M.
End time to record race/commercial periods: 7:01 P.M.

Total minutes: 221

Minutes of race broadcast: 150
Minutes of commercials: 71

Breakdown of what the commercials were for, by category:

NBC Previews/Promos

‘Heroes’ – 4
‘Law & Order C.I. and S.V.U.’ – 3
‘Deal or No Deal’ – 2
NFL on NBC – Flex game – Bears vs. Giants – 2
‘My Name is Earl’/’30 Rock’ – 1
Studio 60 – 1
‘ER’ – 1
NFL ‘Football Night in America’ – 1
Notre Dame vs. Army game – 1
Total: 16

Movie/Movie Previews

‘Cars’ on DVD – 1
‘Casino Royale’ – 1
Total: 2

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

Local news – 7
S&T Bank – 1
Total: 8

Restaurants/Food

Reese’s (Kevin Harvick/Tony Kanaan) – 3
Banquet pot pies (Tony Stewart) – 1
Dominos – 1
Mountain Dew – 1
Little Debbie’s (Ken Schrader) – 1
Uncle Charley’s Sausage – 1
Total: 8

Beer

Miller Lite – 3
Busch – 2
Budweiser – 1
Budweiser (Dale Earnhardt Jr.) – 1
Total: 7

Car/Truck/Bike

NAPA – 4
Ford – 4
Enterprise Rent-a-Car – 3
Toyota (DW & MW) – 2
Duralast batteries at Auto Zone – 2
Advance Auto Parts – 2
Chevrolet – 2
Harley Davidson – 1
Auto Zone – 1
Sunoco (Kevin Harvick) – 1
Hummer H3 series – 1
GM 100,000 mi. warranty – 1
Star/Yamaha – 1
Yamaha Rhino – 1
Suzuki QuadRacer – 1
Suzuki Blvd. – 1
Total: 28

Credit Cards/Financial

Principal Financial – 5
Bank of America – 3
AmeriQuest (Kenseth, Biffle, Edwards) – 1
Total: 9

Insurance

Allstate (Kasey Kahne) – 3
State Farm/’Cars’ DVD – 1
State Farm (Reed Sorenson) – 1
AFLAC – 1
Safe Auto – 1
Total: 7

Health/Medical

BC/BS Security Blue – 1
Total: 1

Wireless Phone

Nextel (Kevin Harvick) – 4
Nextel – 2
Cingular – 2
Total: 8

Home Improvement

Lowes (Jimmie Johnson/Chad Knaus) – 2
Home Depot (Tony Stewart & team) – 1
Home Depot – 1
Total: 4

Technology

DLP (Denny Hamlin) – 3
Sony SXRD HDTV – 3
Sirius Satellite Radio – 2
Total: 8

Products/Services for the Home and Personal Use

Wrangler Jeans (Dale Jr.) – 4
Men’s Wearhouse – 4
Tylenol (various drivers) – 2
www.video.aol.com – 2
www.usepropane.com – 1
Gillette Fusion – 1
Allcare Dental – 1
Best Buy – 2
ADT Security – 1
www.themoreyouknow.com (Dale Earnhardt Jr.) – 1
Sharpie mini – 1
Mattress Discounters – 1
Craftsman Tools – 1
Energizer batteries – 1
Total: 23

Shipping

Fed Ex (Denny Hamlin) – 3
UPS (Dale Jarrett) – 2
Total: 5

Racing Related

nascar.com superstore – 4
Homestead-Miami Speedway (Carl Edwards) – 2
‘Race to the Chase’ – 2
Coca Cola Racing Family – 2
Busch series – 1
nascar.com performance – 1
NASCAR Busch Series – 1
NBC ‘Homestead-Miami’ race – 1
Daytona 500 – 1
Total: 15

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:

3:20 PM – 3:23 PM -3//3:23 PM – 3:25 PM – 2

3:25 PM – 3:28 PM -3 //3:28 PM – 3:30 PM – 2

3:30 PM – 3:42 PM – 12 //3:42 PM – 3:44 PM – 2

3:44 PM – 3:49 PM – 5 //3:49 PM – 3:52 PM – 3

3:52 PM – 3:58 PM – 6 //3:58 PM – 4:01 PM – 3

4:01 PM – 4:05 PM – 4 //4:05 PM – 4:08 PM – 3

4:08 PM – 4:13 PM – 5 //4:13 PM – 4:16 PM – 3

4:16 PM – 4:23 PM – 7 //4:23 PM – 4:26 PM – 3

4:26 PM – 4:31 PM – 5 //4:31 PM – 4:34 PM – 3

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

4:41 PM – 4:46 PM – 5 //4:46 PM – 4:48 PM – 2

4:48 PM – 4:51 PM – 3 //4:51 PM – 4:54 PM – 3

4:54 PM – 4:56 PM – 2 //4:56 PM – 4:59 PM – 3

4:59 PM – 5:00 PM – 1 //5:00 PM – 5:02 PM – 2

5:02 PM – 5:06 PM – 4 //5:06 PM – 5:09 PM – 3

5:09 PM – 5:16 PM – 7 //5:16 PM – 5:17 PM – 1

5:17 PM – 5:19 PM – 2 //5:19 PM – 5:22 PM – 3

5:22 PM – 5:23 PM – 1 //5:23 PM – 5:24 PM -1

5:24 PM – 5:32 PM – 8 //5:32 PM – 5:34 PM – 2

5:34 PM – 5:38 PM – 4 //5:38 PM – 5:41 PM – 3

5:41 PM – 5:44 PM – 3 //5:44 PM – 5:47 PM – 3

5:47 PM – 5:51 PM – 4 //5:51 PM – 5:58 PM – 7

5:58 PM – 6:00 PM – 2 //6:00 PM – 6:03 PM – 3

6:03 PM – 6:07 PM – 4 //6:07 PM – 6:09 PM – 2

6:09 PM – 6:10 PM – 1 //6:10 PM – 6:12 PM – 2

6:12 PM – 6:16 PM – 4 //6:16 PM – 6:18 PM – 2

6:18 PM – 6:31 PM – 13 //6:31 PM – 6:33 PM – 2

6:33 PM – 7:01 PM – 28 //7:01 PM – checkered flag flies

Total race brdcst time: 150 min Total comm. brdcst time: 71 min