The only thing that took longer than the Cup race on Sunday were the explanations, run downs, and theories that many announcers, pundits, officials, and fans had on the subject of wet tires (and those conversations continue on social media). The extended race broadcast also contained commercials, but at least for this week, fans had other things to talk about. But for those folks who like to know precisely how many ads there were, and how much time they took during the broadcast, here is this week’s breakdown.
Race and Commercial Breakdown of the 2024 USA Today 301
Start time to record race/commercial periods: 2:00 PM
Stop for Rain Delay: 4:49 PM
Restart for Fired Engines: 6:44 PM
Race Completed: 8:10 PM
Total minutes of complete race broadcast: 255
Minutes of race broadcast: 219
Minutes of traditional commercials: 36
Minutes of side-by-side commercials: 3
Total number of commercials: 94
Total number of companies or entities advertised: 48
Total number of traditional commercials (not split-screen): 88
Total number of companies or entities advertised: 47
Total number of ‘Side-by-Side’ commercials during the broadcast (split-screen): 6
Total number of companies or entities advertised: 6
Number of times USA utilized ‘Side-by-Side’ commercials during the broadcast: 1
Companies seen the most in commercials during this broadcast: Xfinity (7 times); Sonic (7 times); Olympics (4 times); Toyota (4 times)
Breakdown of what the commercials were, by category:
NBC/USA TV Previews/Promos:
‘Monday Night Raw’ usanetwork.com/wwe-raw – 3
Netflix Netflix.com – 2
Upcoming Cup race on NBC/NBC Sports Coca-Cola, Busch Beer, Xfinity, Geico NASCAR.com/Salutes – 2
Olympics on NBC & Peacock nbcolympics.com – 2
‘Snapped’ on Oxygen oxygen.com/snapped – 1
Upcoming Nashville & Chicago NASCAR Cup races – 1
CNN.com Presidential Debate – 1
Upcoming Xfinity race on NBC/NBC Sports – 1
Olympics on NBC & Peacock and ‘Despicable Me 4’ despicable.me – 1
‘Race to Survive New Zealand usanetwork.com/race-to-survive-new-zealand – 1
Total: 15
Movies
‘Despicable Me 4’ despicable.me – 2
‘Twisters’ twisters-movie.com – 1
‘Horizon’ horizonamericansaga.com/ – 1
Total: 4
Local News/Sports/Points-of-Interest in Penna.
Get Go getgocafe.com – 2
TriStarFordBlairsville.com – 1
TriStarChevyBlairsville.com – 1
TriStarIndiana.com – 1
Cochran Ford cochranford.com – 1
Total: 6
Restaurants/Food
Sonic sonicdrivein.com – 6
IHOP ihop.com – 3
McDonald’s mcdonalds.com – 3
Cracker Barrel crackerbarrel.com – 2
Pizza Hut pizzahut.com/ – 1
Total: 15
Beer/Alcohol
Keystone Light keystonelight.com – 2
Busch Light busch.com – 1
Total: 3
Car/Truck/Bike
Toyota.com/Racing – 3
ebay motors ebay.com – 3
Chevy chevy.com – 2
Drive Time drivetime.com – 1
Neighborhood Ford Store neighborhoodfordstore.com – 1
NAPA napaonline.com/ – 1
Toyota toyota.com – 1
Weather Tech WT.com – 1
Total: 13
Insurance/Health
Progressive progressive.com – 2
Total: 2
Wireless Phone
Mint Mobile mintmobile.com – 1
Total: 1
Technology
Homes.com – 3
Xfinity.com xfinity.com – 3
Meta meta.com – 2
Total: 8
Products/Services for the Home and Personal Use
PODS pods.com – 3
Just For Men justformen.com – 2
Chewy.com – 2
Sotyktu sotyktu.com – 2
Ashley Homestore ashleyhomestore.com – 2
Blackstone Products blackstoneproducts.com – 1
Dude Wipes dudewipes.com – 1
Garnier garnierusa.com – 1
Grainger grainger.com – 1
LaRoche Posay laroche-posay.us – 1
Rinvoq rinvoq.com – 1
Ubrelvy ubrelvy.com – 1
Total: 18
Racing Related
NASCAR Powerball Playoff powerball.com/nascar-powerball-playoff – 2
Indianapolis Motor Speedway IMS.com – 1
Total: 3
Race brdcast times: // Comm. brdcast times:
2:00 PM – 2:15 PM – 15 // 2:15 PM – 2:17 PM – 2
2:17 PM – 2:26 PM – 9 // 2:26 PM – 2:28 PM – 2
2:28 PM – 2:44 PM – 16 // 2:44 PM – 2:46 PM – 2
2:46 PM – 2:48 PM – 2 // 2:48 PM – 2:50 PM – 2
2:50 PM – 3:00 PM – 10 // 3:00 PM – 3:02 PM – 2
3:02 PM – 3:09 PM – 7 // 3:09 PM – 3:10 PM – 1
3:10 PM – 3:13 PM – 3 // 3:13 PM – 3:16 PM – 3
3:16 PM – 3:24 PM – 8 // 3:24 PM – 3:26 PM – 2
3:26 PM – 3:29 PM – 3 // 3:29 PM – 3:31 PM – 2
3:31 PM – 3:39 PM – 8 // 3:39 PM – 3:41 PM – 2
3:41 PM – 3:57 PM – 16 // 3:57 PM – 3:59 PM – 2
3:59 PM – 4:00 PM – 1 // 4:00 PM – 4:03 PM – 3
4:03 PM – 4:10 PM – 7 // 4:10 PM – 4:12 PM – 2
4:12 PM – 4:16 PM – 4 // 4:16 PM – 4:19 PM – 3
4:19 PM – 4:24 PM – 5 // 4:24 PM – 4:26 PM – 2
4:26 PM – 4:49 PM – 23 // 4:49 PM – Rain Delay
Engines Refired:
6:44 PM – 7:06 PM – 22 // 7:06 PM – 7:08 PM – 2
7:08 PM – 7:54 PM – 46 // 7:54 PM – 7:56 PM – 2
7:56 PM – 8:10 PM – 14 // 8:10 PM – checkered flag
Total race brdcst time: 219 // Total comm. brdcst time: 36
Number of companies featured during broadcast: 18
(USA Today usatoday.com ; Hunt Bros. Pizza; Sonic; Coca-Cola; Monster Energy; Busch Beer; Toyota; Geico; Progressive; Liberty Mutual; BuildSubmarines.com ; Draft Kings; Ark Encounter; Ally Bank; Credit One Bank; Xfinity; NASCAR.com/FanRewards ; NASCAR.com/Mobile)
Commercials during race broadcast: ‘Side-by-Side’ (‘Thank you!’ to all of the participating sponsors!)
2:35 PM – 2:38 PM
Xfinity; Bass Pro Shops & TrackerBoats.com ; Progressive; Sonic; Homes.com ; ‘Race to Survive New Zealand’ on USA