Recently, the world of NASCAR lost an award-winning writer and novelist, Monte Dutton. Among his accomplishments, he was known for his coverage of racing, his engaging personality, and strumming a guitar. As this past weekend marked the Cup Series race at the famed Talladega Superspeedway in Lincoln, Alabama, I am reminded that he liked to declare that the correct pronunciation of ‘Talladega’ was not ending in ‘day-gah’, but ‘dee-gah’. In honor of Monte, I will share that information here, as well. I said it in my mind as Talladeega all day, in your memory, sir. Godspeed, Monte. And, as always, for the folks who enjoy knowing how many commercials they had to watch for each race, here is this week’s breakdown.
Race and Commercial Breakdown of the 2026 YellaWood 500
Start time to record race/commercial periods: 2:00 PM
End time to record race/commercial periods: 5:42 PM
Total minutes of complete race broadcast: 222
Minutes of race broadcast: 199
Minutes of traditional commercials: 23
Minutes of side-by-side commercials:36
Total number of commercials: 128
Total number of companies or entities advertised: 66
Total number of traditional commercials (not split-screen): 53
Total number of companies or entities advertised: 42
Total number of ‘Side-by-Side’ commercials during the broadcast (split-screen): 75
Total number of companies or entities advertised: 52
Number of times NBC utilized ‘Side-by-Side’ commercials during the broadcast: 12
Companies seen the most in commercials during this broadcast: NBC (11 times); NASCAR (7 times); Xfinity (6 times); WPXI (6 times); Sonic (5 times); Busch Light (5 times)
Breakdown of what the commercials were, by category:
NBC/USA TV Previews/Promos:
Newlyweds nbc.com/newlyweds – 2
IMSA racing imsa.com – 1
Upcoming Cup race on USA Coca-Cola, Xfinity, Busch Light, Freeway Insurance – 1
Cup race on NBC Coca-Cola, Xfinity, Busch Light, Freeway Insurance – 1
NFL Premium – 1
NBA on NBC & Peacock – 1
WNBA on USA – 1
Breeder’s Cup breederscup.com on NBC/USA/Peacock – 1
‘Happy’s Place’ on NBC nbc.com/happys-place – 1
‘Law & Order: SVU’ nbc.com/law-and-order-special-victims-unit – 1
‘Line of Fire’ on NBC nbc.com/line-of-fire – 1
‘St Denis Medical’ on NBC – 1
Total: 13
Local News/Sports/Points-of-Interest in Penna.
NBC local newswpxi.com – 6
Bet365.com – 2
iuoe66.org – 1
Original Mattress Factory originalmattressfactory.com – 1
Total: 10
Restaurants/Food
Sonic sonicdrivein.com – 3
Total: 3
Beer/Alcohol
Busch Light busch.com – 1
Twisted Tea twistedtea.com – 1
Total: 2
Car/Truck/Bike
Toyota toyota.com – 3
Ford ford.com – 1
GMCDealer.com gmcdealer.com – 1
Total: 5
Insurance/Health
Highmark highmark.com/ – 1
Liberty Mutual libertymutual.com – 1
Total: 2
Wireless Phone
AT&T att.com/ – 1
Patriot Mobile patriotmobile.com – 1
Total: 2
Home Improvement
KubotaUSA.com kubotausa.com – 1
YellaWood yellawood.com – 1
Total: 2
Financial
Ally Bank allybank.com – 2
Credit One Bank creditonebank.com – 1
Total: 3
Technology
AT&T – 1
DraftKings.com draftkings.com – 1
Power Ball powerball.com – 1
StarLink starlink.com – 1
Total: 4
Products/Services for the Home and Personal Use
Flu Zone & Flu Blok sanofiflushots.com – 1
Good Feet Store goodfeet.com – 1
Nuvaxovid nuvaxovid.com – 1
Trelegy trelegy.com – 1
Total: 4
Political/Special Interest
Camera Bartolotta cameraforsenate.com – 1
Total: 1
Racing Related
NASCAR 2026 – 1
NASCAR.com/Shop nascar.com/shop – 1
Total: 2
Race brdcast times: // Comm. brdcast times:
2:00 PM – 2:03 PM – 3 // 2:03 PM – 2:06 PM – 3
2:06 PM – 2:09 PM – 3 // 2:09 PM – 2:11 PM – 2
2:11 PM – 3:46 PM – 95 // 3:46 PM – 3:48 PM – 2
3:48 PM – 3:49 PM – 1 // 3:49 PM – 3:52 PM – 3
3:52 PM – 4:26 PM – 34 // 4:26 PM – 4:28 PM – 2
4:28 PM – 4:30 PM – 2 // 4:30 PM – 4:32 PM – 2
4:32 PM – 4:38 PM – 6 // 4:38 PM – 4:41 PM – 3
4:41 PM – 4:42 PM – 1 // 4:42 PM – 4:45 PM – 3
4:45 PM – 5:34 PM – 49 // 5:34 PM – 5:37 PM – 3
5:37 PM – 5:42 PM – 5 // 5:42 PM – checkered flag
Total race brdcst time: 199 // Total comm. brdcst time: 23
Number of companies featured during broadcast: 28
(YellaWood yellawood.com ; AMR Safety Team amt.net ; Hunt Bros Pizza; Coca-Cola; Busch Light, @BuschLight #BuschAllfor1 #Sweepstakes ; Freeway Insurance; Progressive; POET; Sunoco; Safelite; Valvoline; HendrickCars.com ; Bass Pro Shops; United Rentals; Toyota; Starlink; DraftKings.com; Nuvaxovid; Credit One Bank; Ally Bank; BuildSubmarines.com ; Xfinity; T-Mobile; Verizon Business; ‘The Rise and Fall of Reggie Dilkins’ on NBC ; NBA on NBC; College Football on NBC & Peacock; NFL on NBC; NASCAR 2026; Upcoming Cup races )
Commercials during race broadcast: ‘Side-by-Side’ (‘Thank you!’ to all of the participating sponsors!)
2:28 PM – 2:31 PM
Kioti; Starlink; Subway; Liberty Mutual; Monster Energy; Patriot Mobile; NBC
2:38 PM – 2:41 PM
Progressive; Bank of America; Xfinity; NASCAR 2026; NFL on NBC
2:49 PM – 2:52 PM
Weather Tech; Golden Corral; Verizon Business; Busch Light; Chevy; Graza Olive Oil; ‘The Voice” on NBC
2:57 PM – 3:00 PM
National Debt Relief; Sonic; Kubota; Valvoline; AT&T; Daytona500.com ; ‘The Traitors: New Blood’ on NBC
3:14 PM – 3:16 PM
Breztri; T-Mobile; Twisted Tea; Ashley Furniture; NBC
3:22 PM – 3:25 PM
Ram Trucks; Ally Bank; Coke Zero Sugar; Xfinity; ro.co ; ‘The Rise and Fall of Reggie Dilkins’ on NBC
3:32 PM – 3:35 PM
GoodYear; CustomInk.com ; Busch Light; DraftKings.com; Turtle Box; Sonic; Straight Talk
3:39 PM – 3:43 PM
Consumer Cellular; Liberty Mutual; Golden Corral; Starlink; Soccer on USA
4:01 PM – 4:04 PM
Xfinity; Valvoline; Toyota; Bank of America; Subway; Progressive
4:10 PM – 4:13 PM
AC Delco – GM Collision Repair Network; Xfinity; Busch Light; Ally Bank; Discount Tire; HomesteadMiamiSpeedway.com ; ‘Line of Fire’ on NBC
4:56 PM – 4:59 PM
Monster Energy; Ashley Furniture; National Debt Relief; Subway: Verizon Business: Daytona500.com ; Sunday Night Football on NBC
5:06 PM – 5:09 PM
Vabysmo; Progressive; Golden Corral; Xfinity; Bank of America; ‘The Rise and Fall of Reggie Dilkins’ on NBC