For those of you NASCAR fans that like stats and love to hate commercials, or wonder how often your driver was focused on, here is the breakdown for Sunday’s race.

I began recording the times at the Invocation of the race at 1:45 PM, and stopped at the waving of the checkered flag at 5:52 PM (all times are EST). I did not keep records for the pre- and post-race coverage.

ESPN was the broadcast team for this event. Included in this broadcast was ‘NASCAR Non-Stop’, commercials shown split-screen with the race broadcast. Below the regular commercials’ breakdown, you can see a breakdown of the participating sponsors and the times their ads were shown. Big thanks go out to ESPN for offering ‘NASCAR Non-Stop’, and the sponsors who permitted their products to be advertised this way.

Throughout the breakdown, you can find links to sponsors, or special items-of-interest such as links to contests and movie sites. At a later date you can check how many times selected drivers were focused on during the race (this part of my report has been delayed due to the illness of a family member, and the care they require).

Race and Commercial Breakdown of the 2011 Tums Fast Relief 500

Total number of traditional commercials (not split-screen): 75
Total number of ‘NASCAR Non-Stop commercials’ (split-screen): 58
Total number of commercials: 133
Total number of companies or entities advertised: 74

Total number of brief promos of products/services during the race broadcast: 35

Total number of companies or entities advertised in brief promos or crawlers: 20 (companies: Tums; Ford; Toyota; GoodYear; Nationwide Insurance; Nationwide Insurance Code Spotter Sweepstakes ; CarFax; Bush’s Baked Beans; Century Link; Sprint.com/speed; AT&T ‘Fastest Pit Crew of the Year Award – text to 234567’; Papa John’s; Gillette Fusion ProGlide; NHRA ; ‘SportsCenter’ on ESPN; Monday Night Football on ESPN; NASCAR.com/RaceBuddy; ‘NASCAR Now’; next week’s Nationwide race; next week’s Sprint Cup race)

Total amount of time these brief promos take during broadcast: app. 3 min. 40 sec.

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

NASCAR on ESPN ‘Career Wins at Martinsville’
NASCAR on ESPN ‘Crew Chief Concerns’
NASCAR on ESPN ‘In-Race Reporter’
NASCAR on ESPN ‘Starting Grid’
Gillette Fusion ProGlide ‘Profile’
ESPN.com ‘Mailbag Question’
NASCAR on ESPN ‘In-Car Cameras’
NASCAR on ESPN ‘Over-the-Wall Reporter’
NASCAR on ESPN ‘NASCAR Non-Stop presented by AT&T’
ESPN/Craftsman ‘Tech Garage’
NASCAR on ESPN ‘Involved in Crash’
American Ethanol ‘Green Flag Restart’
Aaron’s ‘Lucky Dog Free Pass’
NASCAR on ESPN ‘Kurt Busch – Rank Amongst Chasers’
Diet Mt. Dew ‘On-Board’
AFLAC ‘On-Board’
NASCAR on ESPN ‘Up-to-Speed’
Coca-Cola ‘Race Off Pit Road’
NASCAR on ESPN ‘Chase for the Sprint Cup – Points’
American Ethanol ‘On-Board’
NASCAR on ESPN ‘Motorsports Schedule’
NASCAR on ESPN ‘Race Summary’
Ford ‘On-Board’
NASCAR on ESPN ‘Foot Cam’
NASCAR on ESPN ‘Jimmie Johnson – Chase Results Last 5 Years’
M&M’s ‘On-Board’
Office Depot ‘On-Board’
NASCAR on ESPN ‘Pit Road Performance’
NASCAR on ESPN ‘Jimmie Johnson – 2007 Chase Races’

Start time to record race/commercial periods: 1:45 PM
End time to record race/commercial periods: 5:52 PM

Total minutes of complete race broadcast: 247
Total minutes of race broadcast: 186
Minutes of traditional commercials: 35
Minutes of ‘NASCAR Non-Stop Commercials’: 26
Number of times ESPN utilized ‘NASCAR Non-Stop’ to show split-screen commercials: 12
Number of times ESPN cut short commercial breaks to return to important race action: 2
Number of missed restarts: 0
Number of ‘mystery cautions’ (debris not shown): 0
Number of male enhancement commercials: 0 Many NASCAR fans report to CawsnJaws they find these ads very offensive However, for the last few race telecasts, there have been none of these ads. I will discontinue keeping this stat if this is the case.

Click here for last year’s commercial breakdown of this race.

Breakdown of what the commercials were for, by category:

ESPN/TV Previews/Promos

‘Unguarded’ – ESPN Films – 5
Monday Night Football on ESPN – 2
ESPN Sports Center – 1
Wendy’s / ESPN ‘Big Score’ – 1
ESPN and GoodYear GoodYear – 1
‘Mike & Mike in the Morning’ on ESPN Radio – 1
‘Sunday Night NFL Countdown’ on ESPN – 1
BCS Countdown – 1
ESPN.com/drpepper – 1

Total: 14

Movies

‘Cars 2’ (Jeff Gordon) – 1
‘Jack and Jill’ – 1

Total: 2

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

F&M Bank – 1
Robert Peirce & Assoc. – PeirceLaw.com – 1

Total: 2

Restaurants/Food

Golden Corral – 4
Bush’s Baked Beans – 2
Coca-Cola – 1
M&Ms (Kyle Busch) – 1
McDonald’s on Facebook – 1
Papa Johns – 1
Ruth’s Chris Steak House – 1
Subway – 1

Total: 12

Beer/Alcohol

Budweiser – 2
Jim Beam – 2
Jim Beam Red Stag – 2

Total: 6

Car/Truck/Bike

GoodYear – 5
Chevy – 3
Toyota (Kyle Busch) – 2
NAPA on FaceBook (Michael Waltrip, Martin Truex Jr.) – 2
Pennzoil – 2
CarFax.com – 2
Cars.com – 2
Chevy – 1
Chrysler 300 – 1
Dodge Journey – 1
RamTrucks.com/gutsglory – 1
Ford – 1
Ford40mpg (Carl Edwards, John Force) – 1
Frank’s Auto Supermarket – 1
Midas – 1
Toyota – 1

Total: 27

Insurance/Health

Nationwide (Dale Earnhardt Jr.) – 4
Geico.com – 2
Progressive – 2
Travelers Insurance – 2
21st Century Insurance – 2
GreatFutures.org – 1

Total: 13

Wireless Phone

AT&T/impulse – 2
AT&T.com/network – 2
Sprint (Carl Edwards) – 2
Sprint/unlimited – 2

Total: 8

Home Improvement

Craftsman – 3
Lowes – 2

Total: 5

Financial

Bank of America/getcashback – 3
Bank of America/solutions – 1
MyRangeResources.com – 1
tdameritrade.com – 1

Total: 6

Technology

Brother.com/wholesale – 1
Century Link – 1
GoDaddy.com (Danica Patrick) – 1
SonoSite.com/TheRehabilitator – 1
Stamps.com/tv – 1

Total: 5

Products/Services for the Home and Personal Use

Gillette Fusion ProGlide – 3
Tums on Facebook (David Reutimann, Michael Waltrip) – 2
Zoosk.com – 2
GoutInfo.com – 1
IsItLowT.com – 1
Match.com – 1
Aaron’s (Michael Waltrip, David Reutimann) – 1
Energy Sheets – 1

Total: 12

Political/Special Interest

Kopas and Lucia – Working for Westmoreland – 1

Total: 1

Racing Related

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (Jimmie Johnson & various drivers) – 4
NASCAR.com Superstore (various drivers) – 4
Nationwide Series (various drivers) – 2
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series – 2
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (various drivers) – 1
NASCAR Cup Champions’ Week in Las Vegas – 1
Race Buddy – 1
NASCAR.com/Chase – 1
Bristol Motor Speedway – 1
Homestead-Miami Speedway – 1
Phoenix Raceway – 1
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (Dale Earnhardt Jr. & various drivers) – 1

Total: 20

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:

1:45 PM – 1:48 PM – 3 // 1:48 PM – 1:50 PM – 2

1:50 PM – 1:54 PM – 4 // 1:54 PM – 1:56 PM – 2

1:56 PM – 2:07 PM – 11 // 2:07 PM – 2:09 PM – 2

2:09 PM – 2:11 PM – 2 // 2:11 PM – 2:14 PM – 3

2:14 PM – 2:23 PM – 9 // 2:23 PM – 2:25 PM – 2

2:25 PM – 2:38 PM – 13 // 2:38 PM – 2:39 PM – 1

2:39 PM – 2:41 PM – 2 // 2:41 PM – 2:42 PM – 1

2:42 PM – 2:47 PM – 5 // 2:47 PM – 2:50 PM – 3

2:50 PM – 2:53 PM – 3 // 2:53 PM – 2:56 PM – 3

2:56 PM – 3:04 PM – 8 // 3:04 PM – 3:05 PM – 1

3:05 PM – 3:12 PM – 7 // 3:12 PM – 3:15 PM – 3

3:15 PM – 3:22 PM – 7 // 3:22 PM – 3:23 PM – 1

3:23 PM – 3:27 PM – 4 // 3:27 PM – 3:29 PM – 2

3:29 PM – 3:33 PM – 4 // 3:33 PM – 3:36 PM – 3

3:36 PM – 3:40 PM – 4 // 3:40 PM – 3:43 PM – 3

3:43 PM – 3:49 PM – 6 // 3:49 PM – 3:52 PM – 3

3:52 PM – 3:58 PM – 6 // 3:58 PM – 4:00 PM – 2

4:00 PM – 4:05 PM – 5 // 4:05 PM – 4:06 PM – 1

4:06 PM – 4:10 PM – 4 // 4:10 PM – 4:12 PM – 2

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

4:18 PM – 4:22 PM – 4 // 4:22 PM – 4:25 PM – 3

4:25 PM – 4:31 PM – 6 // 4:31 PM – 4:33 PM – 2

4:33 PM – 4:39 PM – 6 // 4:39 PM – 4:41 PM – 2

4:41 PM – 4:42 PM – 1 // 4:42 PM – 4:45 PM – 3

4:45 PM – 4:51 PM – 6 // 4:51 PM – 4:53 PM – 2

4:53 PM – 4:58 PM – 5 // 4:58 PM – 5:00 PM – 2

5:00 PM – 5:04 PM – 4 // 5:04 PM – 5:06 PM – 2

5:06 PM – 5:24 PM – 18 // 5:24 PM – 5:27 PM – 3

5:27 PM – 5:52 PM – 25 // 5:52 PM – checkered flag flies

Total race brdcst time 186 Total comm. brdcst time 61

Commercials during race broadcast: ‘NASCAR Non-Stop presented by Sprint’ (‘Thank you!’ to all of the participating sponsors!)

3:58 PM – 4:00 PM
AT&T/impulse; Craftsman; Nationwide Insurance (Dale Earnhardt Jr.); BCS on ESPN

4:05 PM – 4:06 PM

Bank of America/getcashback; 21st Century Insurance

4:10 PM – 4:12 PM

Golden Corral; PennZoil; NASCAR Sprint Cup Series

4:16 PM – 4:18 PM

Toyota; Bush’s Baked Beans; Sprint.com/speed; GoodYear; ‘Unguarded’ – ESPN Films

4:22 PM – 4:25 PM

Chrysler 300; SonoSite ‘The Rehabilitator’; Craftsman; Match.com; Progressive Insurance; NASCAR Sprint Cup Series

4:31 PM – 4:33 PM

‘Sunday NFL Countdown’ on ESPN; Gillette Fusion ProGlide; Zoosk.com; Brother.com/wholesale; tdameritrade.com; NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (Dale Earnhardt Jr.)

4:39 PM – 4:41 PM

AT&T/network; Traveler’s Insurance; Bank of America/getcashback; Monday Night Football; NASCAR.com/SuperStore

4:42 PM – 4:45 PM

Geico; Geico; GoodYear; Aaron’s (Michael Waltrip, David Reutimann); Craftsman; Nationwide Series; ‘Mike and Mike in the Morning’ on ESPNRadio.com

4:51 PM – 4:53 PM

Coca-Cola; 21st Century Insurance; Toyota; ‘Unguarded’ – ESPN Films; NASCAR.com/SuperStore

4:58 PM – 5:00 PM

Nationwide Insurance (Dale Earnhardt Jr.); Dodge Journey; Gillette Fusion ProGlide; NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (Jimmie Johnson)

5:04 PM – 5:06 PM

Sprint.com/unlimited; Progressive Insurance; Subway; NASCAR Champions Week in Las Vegas; Monday Night Football

5:24 PM – 5:27 PM

AT&T/impulse; GoodYear; Bank of America/solutions; Lowes; Homestead-Miami Speedway; NASCAR Sprint Cup Series