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 3:02 PM, and stopped at the waving of the checkered flag at 6:03 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 Kobalt Tools 500

Total number of traditional commercials (not split-screen): 60
Total number of ‘NASCAR Non-Stop commercials’ (split-screen): 49
Total number of commercials: 109
Total number of companies or entities advertised: 54

Total number of brief promos of products/services during the race broadcast: 29

Total number of companies or entities advertised in brief promos or crawlers: 19 (companies: Lowes; Ford; Ford F150; GoodYear; GoodYear.com/SupportOurTroops ; Sylvania SilverStar headlights; Nationwide Insurance; Nationwide Insurance Code Spotter Sweepstakes ; Sprint.com/speed; AT&T ‘Fastest Pit Crew of the Year Award – text to 234567’; Papa John’s; Bush’s Baked Beans; Monday Night Football on ESPN; ‘BCS Countdown’ on ESPN; NHRA ; 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. 55 sec.

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

NASCAR on ESPN ‘In-Race Reporter’
Kobalt Tools ‘Starting Line Up’
Gillette Fusion ProGlide ‘Profile’
ESPN.com ‘Mailbox Question’
NASCAR on ESPN ‘In-Car Cameras’
GoDaddy.com ‘On-Board’
Dodge ‘On-Board’
Florida Gulf Safe ‘On-Board’
GoodYear ‘On-Board’
Rheem ‘On-Board’
Kobalt ‘On-Board’
Diet Mt. Dew ‘On-Board’
Sprint ‘On-Board’
NASCAR on ESPN ‘Over-the-Wall Reporter’
Kobalt ‘Tools for Today’
Aaron’s ‘Lucky Dog Free Pass’
Longhorn Steakhouse ‘Race Off Pit Road’
Lowes ‘Never Stop Improving Biggest Movers’
NASCAR on ESPN ‘Up-to-Speed’
NASCAR on ESPN ‘4-Tire Pit Stops’
ESPN/Craftsman ‘Tech Garage’
NASCAR on ESPN ‘Motorsports Schedule’
NASCAR on ESPN ‘Kevin Harvick – Chase Summary’
NASCAR on ESPN ‘Jimmie Johnson – Chase Summary’
NASCAR on ESPN ‘NASCAR Non-Stop presented by Kobalt Tools’
NASCAR on ESPN ‘Hendrick Motorsports – Currently’
NASCAR on ESPN ‘Winless Streaks Broken’

Start time to record race/commercial periods: 3:02 PM
End time to record race/commercial periods: 6:03 PM

Total minutes of complete race broadcast: 181
Total minutes of race broadcast: 154
Minutes of traditional commercials: 27
Minutes of ‘NASCAR Non-Stop Commercials’: 21
Number of times ESPN utilized ‘NASCAR Non-Stop’ to show split-screen commercials: 9
Number of missed restarts: 0
Number of ‘mystery cautions’ (caution not explained): 1

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

Breakdown of what the commercials were for, by category:

ESPN/TV Previews/Promos

Monday Night Football on ESPN – 8
‘College Hoops Tip-Off’ marathon on ESPN – 2
ESPN and Bud Light – 1

Total: 11

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

BobbyRahal.com – 1
F&M Bank – 1
FortPittCapital.com – 1

Total: 3

Restaurants/Food

Bush’s Baked Beans – 2
Golden Corral – 2
Subway (Carl Edwards) – 2
AlmondBoard.com – 1
Coca-Cola (various drivers) – 1
Coca-Cola and ArcticHome.com – 1
Coke Zero – 1
Longhorn Steakhouse – 1
M&Ms – 1
Papa Johns and USO.org – 1

Total: 13

Car/Truck/Bike

Ford – 4
GoodYear – 3
Chevy – 3
Pennzoil – 2
Sylvania SilverStar Headlights – 2
Mobil 1 – 2
RamTrucks.com/gutsglory – 2
Chrysler 300 – 1
Dodge Journey – 1
Frank’s Auto Supermarket – 1
Midas – 1
NAPA.com/knowhow (Martin Truex Jr.) – 1
NAPA on FaceBook (Michael Waltrip, Martin Truex Jr.) – 1
Toyota Camry – 1

Total: 25

Insurance/Health

Nationwide (Dale Earnhardt Jr.) – 5
AFLAC – 2
Geico.com – 1

Total: 8

Wireless Phone

AT&T.com/network – 3
AT&T/Torch – 2
Sprint/unlimited – 2
Sprint (Carl Edwards) – 1

Total: 8

Home Improvement

Craftsman – 4
Lowes – 4

Total: 8

Financial

Bank of America/getcashback – 4
MyRangeResources.com – 1

Total: 5

Technology

Century Link – 2
DroidDoes/droidrazr – 2
GoDaddy.com (Danica Patrick) – 1

Total: 5

Products/Services for the Home and Personal Use

Gillette Fusion ProGlide – 2

Total: 2

Racing Related

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (Jimmie Johnson & various drivers) – 6
NASCAR.com Superstore (various drivers) – 4
NASCAR Cup Champions’ Week in Las Vegas – 2
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series – 1
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (Dale Earnhardt Jr. & various drivers) – 1
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Uses American Ethanol – 1
Race Buddy – 1
NASCAR.com Superstore – 1
Daytona 500 – 1
Homestead-Miami Speedway – 1
NHRA – 1
Nationwide Series (various drivers) – 1

Total: 21

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:

3:02 PM – 3:05 PM – 3 // 3:05 PM – 3:06 PM – 1

3:06 PM – 3:11 PM – 5 // 3:11 PM – 3:13 PM – 2

3:13 PM – 3:19 PM – 6 // 3:19 PM – 3:22 PM – 3

3:22 PM – 3:24 PM – 2 // 3:24 PM – 3:26 PM – 2

3:26 PM – 3:34 PM – 8 // 3:34 PM – 3:37 PM – 3

3:37 PM – 3:43 PM – 6 // 3:43 PM – 3:45 PM – 2

3:45 PM – 3:50 PM – 5 // 3:50 PM – 3:53 PM – 3

3:53 PM – 3:57 PM – 4 // 3:57 PM – 3:59 PM – 2

3:59 PM – 4:07 PM – 8 // 4:07 PM – 4:08 PM – 1

4:08 PM – 4:10 PM – 2 // 4:10 PM – 4:11 PM – 1

4:11 PM – 4:19 PM – 8 // 4:19 PM – 4:21 PM – 2

4:21 PM – 4:28 PM – 7 // 4:28 PM – 4:30 PM – 2

4:30 PM – 4:35 PM – 5 // 4:35 PM – 4:38 PM – 3

4:38 PM – 6:03 PM – 85 // 6:03 PM – checkered flag flies

Total race brdcst time 154 Total comm. brdcst time 27

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

4:43 PM – 4:46 PM

AT&T/network; Bank of America/getcashback; Golden Corral; Nationwide Insurance (Dale Earnhardt Jr.); Monday Night Football on ESPN

4:50 PM – 4:52 PM

Chrysler 300; AFLAC; GoodYear; Subway (Carl Edwards); Daytona500.com; NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (Jimmie Johnson)

4:57 PM – 4:59 PM

DroidDoes.com/droidrazr; Gillette Fusion ProGlide; NASCAR uses American Ethanol; Monday Night Football on ESPN

5:07 PM – 5:09 PM

Sprint.com/speed (Carl Edwards); Mobil 1 (Tony Stewart); USO.org and Papa John’s; Sylvania SilverStar headlights; NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (Jimmie Johnson); NASCAR SuperStore (various drivers)

5:17 PM – 5:18 PM

Monday Night Football; Bank of America/getcashback; AT&T/network; Geico

5:26 PM – 5:29 PM

Nationwide Insurance (Dale Earnhardt Jr.); GoodYear; Century Link; Bush’s Baked Beans; NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (Jimmie Johnson); NASCAR.com Superstore (various drivers); NASCAR.com SuperStore

5:33 PM – 5:35 PM

Dodge Ram/gutsglory; PennZoil; Golden Corral; AFLAC; Monday Night Football

5:37 PM – 5:40 PM

DroidDoes.com/droidrazr; Craftsman; Craftsman; Bank of America/getcashback; Championship Week at Las Vegas; ‘College Hoops Tip-Off’ marathon on ESPN

5:44 PM – 5:47 PM

Mobil 1 (Tony Stewart); AT&T.com/network; Subway (Carl Edwards); Nationwide Insurance (Dale Earnhardt Jr.); Monday Night Football on ESPN