Hi NASCAR fans. My off-season hibernation has ended, and I have begun limbering up my fingers for the season to come. I am looking forward to seeing what happens during this new racing season, and keeping track of the commercials during the Cup races, as well as the number of times drivers were focused on, as I have since 2006.

This is my report on how many times certain drivers, crew chiefs, and other NASCAR crew members were shown on-screen during the 2008 racing season. I keep these statistics in addition to the breakdown of commercials for every Cup race. If a driver and/or his car are on-screen for longer than a few short seconds, I record it.

There are professional agencies out there that do more detailed reports of sports marketing, and provide their clients with ‘sponsorship impact measurements’.

The information I provide is basic: how many times were the drivers seen on-screen, starting with the Invocation of the race, and ending with the waving of the checkered flag. NASCAR fans might be interested to know that Jimmie Johnson, ‘08’s Champion, was focused on 3,162 times; while Robby Gordon, ending lowest in points of all of the full-time drivers starting in 36 races, was shown 532 times. Not many folks would be surprised to learn that Chad Knaus remains the Crew Chief that the networks love to observe, with 150 focuses; next up was Bob Osborne, with 72.

Beside each driver is the number of times he was focused on. In parentheses are the numbers I recorded in 2007, but please note that it was not for the full-season. I only began keeping records of the driver focuses in April. From here on, though, I will have full seasons worth of data to share with you to peruse and compare, God willing.

Have fun comparing the focuses in any way you want to, but take a moment to look at the stats not always from a fan’s point-of-view, but a potential sponsor. In these economic times, every individual and entity wants the most bang for their buck, as we all know.

SEASON TOTALS:

Car No. / Driver / Focus Total in ’08 / (Focus Total in ’07—partial season)

(48) Jimmie Johnson – 3,162 (906)
(88) Dale Earnhardt Jr. – 2,857 (763)
(99) Carl Edwards – 2,709 (461)
(18) Kyle Busch – 2,687 (566)
(24) Jeff Gordon – 2,338 (928)
(20) Tony Stewart – 2,097 (604)
(11) Denny Hamlin – 1,769 (507)
(17) Matt Kenseth – 1,654 (579)
(31) Jeff Burton – 1,587 (352)
(16)Greg Biffle – 1,530 (194)
(29) Kevin Harvick – 1,352 (432)
(9) Kasey Kahne – 1,302 (231)
(07) Clint Bowyer – 1,106 (293)
(2) Kurt Busch – 981 (567)
(6) David Ragan – 980 (102)
(42) Juan Pablo Montoya – 954 (245)
(12) Ryan Newman – 932 (387)
(26) Jamie McMurray – 912 (169)
(83) Brian Vickers – 906 (104)
(1) Martin Truex Jr. – 849 (500)
(19) Elliott Sadler – 726 (77)
(25) Casey Mears – 708 (175)
(43) Bobby Labonte – 707 (138)
(55) Michael Waltrip – 690 (90)
(15) Paul Menard – 592 (62)
(77) Sam Hornish Jr. – 574
(7) Robby Gordon – 532 (97)
(22) Dave Blaney – 515
(41) Reed Sorenson – 502 (121)
(38) Dave Gilliland – 472 (103)
(28) Travis Kvapil – 386
(01) Regan Smith – 306 (9)
(10) Scott Riggs – 292 (62)
(40) David Stremme – 25 (80)

Partial Season Drivers/’Ringers’:

(8) Mark Martin – 682 (116)
(00, 44) David Reutimann – 670 (33)
(84, 00, 10) A.J. Allmendinger – 401 (36)
(78) Joe Nemechek – 375 (50)
(10) Patrick Carpentier – 292
(8) Aric Almirola – 257
(21) Bill Elliott – 220 (49)
(44) Dale Jarrett – 204 (54)
(21, 47) Marcos Ambrose – 203
(49, 70, 33, 96) Ken Schrader – 201 (1)
(96) J.J. Yeley – 192 (87)
(00) Michael McDowell – 174
(34, 70, 08) Tony Raines – 130 (100)
(45) Kyle Petty – 122 (76)
(40) Dario Franchitti – 106
(24, 87, 00) Mike Skinner – 103
(70, 08, 21) Johnny Sauter – 100 (100)
(36) Jeremy Mayfield – 84 (42)
(45) Terry Labonte – 69 (3)
(60, 45) Boris Said – 65 (13)
(84, 82) Scott Speed – 55
(96, 02) Joey Logano – 53
(09, 40) Sterling Marlin – 51 (21)
(45) Chad McCumbee – 47 (5)
(34) John Andretti – 37 (24)
(33, 10) Mike Wallace – 36
(25) Brad Keselowski – 31
(87, 00) Kenny Wallace – 28 (32)
(01) Ron Fellows – 26 (12)
(27) Jacques Villeneuve – 21 (13)
(00) Mike Bliss – 19 (2)
(41) Scott Pruett – 18
(66, 70, 13) Max Papis – 16
(50) Stanton Barrett – 15
(21) Jon Wood – 15
(70) Jason Leffler – 11
(96) P.J. Jones – 11 (4)
(96) Brad Coleman – 4
(08, 46) Carl Long – 1
Jason Keller (on standby for a race for Kasey Kahne) – 1
(21, 34) Jeff Green – 1
(37) Eric McClure – 1
Mitch Lash (No. 44 jackman) – 1
Sean Irvan (No. 26 team) – 1

Crew Chiefs:

Chad Knaus – 150 (57)
Bob Osborne – 72
Tony Eury Jr. – 55
Steve Letarte – 45
Greg Zipadelli – 42
Steve Addington – 38
Andy Petree – 23
Greg Erwin – 17
Mike Ford – 16
Chip Bolin – 14
Kenny Francis – 10
Brian Pattie – 7
Gil Martin – 7
Robbie Reiser – 7
Tony Gibson – 7
Pat Tryson – 6
Kevin Manion – 6
Scott Miller – 5
Kevin Hamlin – 5
Larry Carter – 4
Alan Gustafson – 3
Jimmy Elledge – 3
Jimmy Fennig – 3
Rodney Childers – 2
Mike Greci – 2
Todd Berrier – 2
Roy McCauley – 2
Paul Andrews – 1
Darian Grubbs – 1
Brian Whitesell – 1
Bootie Barker – 1
Todd Parrott – 1
Tommy Baldwin – 1
Jimmy Makar – 1
Frank Stoddard – 1
Ryan Pemberton – 1

Other Team Members:

D.J. Copp – 9
Alex Yonchuk (No. 22 tire carrier) – 4
Brad Donaghy (No. 18 front tire carrier) – 4
Charles ‘Cully’ Barraclaugh – 2
Greg Stucker – 1
Zach McGowan (No. 7 rear-tire changer) – 1
Phil Gibson (No. 44 front-tire changer) – 1
Chris Hall (No. 55 team front-tire carrier) – 1
Sean Irvan (jackman No. 26 team) – 1
Chip Goode (rear-tire carrier No. 42 team) – 1
Greg Donlin (No. 38 team/to help out No. 99 team) – 1

Car Owners and Other VIPs:

Jack Roush – 25
Rick Hendrick – 16
Richard Childress – 13
Joe Gibbs – 13
Robin Pemberton – 3
Ray Evernham – 3
Mike Helton – 2
Ned Jarrett – 2
Chip Ganassi – 2
Humpy Wheeler – 1
J.D. Gibbs – 1
Rick Heinrich (GoodYear Product Mgr.) – 1
Brett Bodine – 1
Roger Penske – 1

Punctuation Marks used in compiling these statistics (that’s a lot of typing!):

23,478 – commas
18,265 – semicolons
‘(replay)’ – 1,013