On Sunday, all over the country, NASCAR fans had their charcoal grills closed up and had the potato salad safely in the refrigerator by 6:00 PM. A Labor Day Weekend race was being held at the historical Darlington Raceway, with the Chase for the Championship freshly started. It was rain-free, lasted over four hours, and there were plenty of Darlington stripes. There were plenty of commercials, too. For those who like to know precisely how many there were, and how much time they took during the broadcast, here is this week’s breakdown.
Race and Commercial Breakdown of the 2023 Cook Out Southern 500
Start time to record race/commercial periods: 6:01 PM
End time to record race/commercial periods: 10:37 PM
Total minutes of complete race broadcast: 276
Minutes of race broadcast: 225
Minutes of traditional commercials: 51
Minutes of side-by-side commercials: 10
Total number of commercials: 164
Total number of companies or entities advertised: 66
Total number of traditional commercials (not split-screen): 143
Total number of companies or entities advertised: 62
Total number of ‘Side-by-Side’ commercials during the broadcast (split-screen): 21
Total number of companies or entities advertised: 12
Number of times USA utilized ‘Side-by-Side’ commercials during the broadcast: 4
Companies seen the most in commercials during this broadcast: Toyota (10 times); Golden Corral (8 times); Sonic (8 times); Xfinity (7 times); Coca-Cola (6 times); ebay motors (6 times); Applebee’s (5 times); Progressive (5 times); Bank of America (5 times)
Breakdown of what the commercials were, by category:
NBC/USA TV Previews/Promos:
CNBC.com/ClubOffer – 3
‘Found’ nbc.com/found – 2
‘Hot Wheels Ultimate Challenge’ nbc.com/hot-wheels-ultimate-champion – 2
‘The Irrational’ nbc.com/the-irrational – 2
‘Monday Night Raw’ usanetwork.com/wwe-raw – 2
NFL nfl.com on NBC & Peacock – 2
Upcoming Cup race NASCAR.com/tickets – 1
NFL nfl.com & College Football on NBC & Peacock – 1
College Football on NBC/NBC Sports – 1
Olympics on NBC nbcolympics.com – 1
Peacock peacocktv.com – 1
Total: 18
Local News/Sports/Points-of-Interest in Penna.
PNC.com pnc.com – 4
C Harper CHarper.com – 1
DuquesneLight.com duquesnelight.com – 1
Total: 6
Restaurants/Food
Golden Corral goldencorral.com/ – 8
Sonic sonicdrivein.com – 8
Applebees applebees.com – 5
Coca-Cola cocacola.com – 4
IHOP ihop.com – 4
McDonald’s mcdonalds.com – 4
Door Dash doordash.com – 3
Subway Subway.com – 2
Wendy’s wendys.com – 2
Five Hour Energy Drink fivehour.com – 1
Total: 41
Beer/Alcohol
Keystone Light keystonelight.com – 1
Total: 1
Car/Truck/Bike
ebay motors ebay.com – 6
Toyota toyota.com (Toyota drivers) #ToyotaNation – 5
Buyatoyota.com buyatoyota.com – 4
GoodYear goodyear.com – 3
CarGurus.com – 2
Vroom vroom.com – 2
Advance Auto advanceautoparts.com and Die Hard batteries diehard.com – 1
Ram Trucks ram.com – 1
Ford ford.com – 1
Flynn’s Tires flynnstires.com – 1
NAPA napaonline.com/ – 1
WeatherTech.com weathertech.com – 1
Total: 28
Insurance/Health
USAA.com usaa.com – 4
Progressive progressive.com – 3
NURTEC nurtec.com – 2
Liberty Mutual libertymutual.com – 1
PA.gov/Opioids – 1
Total: 11
Wireless Phone
Verizon/Frontline Verizon.com/frontline – 2
Mint Mobile mintmobile.com – 1
Total: 3
Financial
Bank of America/CustomizedCash bankofamerica.com/CustomizedCash – 5
Ally Bank allybank.com (Alex Bowman) – 1
Total: 6
Legal
Edgar Snyder edgarsnyder.com – 2
Total: 2
Technology
Amazon amazon.com – 3
DuckDuckGo duckduckgo.com – 3
Xfinity.com xfinity.com – 3
TickPick tickpick.com – 1
Total: 10
Products/Services for the Home and Personal Use
Breztri breztri.com – 4
Ashley Homestore ashleyhomestore.com – 1
ByltBasics.com – 1
CeraVe cerave.com – 1
Chewy.com – 1
Gorilla Tape and Glue gorillatough.com – 1
Libman libman.com – 1
L’Oreal loreal.com – 1
OluKai.com – 1
PODS pods.com – 1
THUMA thuma.co – 1
Total: 14
Racing Related
NASCAR.com nascar.com – 1
Bristol Motor Speedway bristolmotorspeedway.com/ BristolTix.com bristol.com/ #ItsBristolBaby – 1
Darlington Raceway darlingtonraceway.com – 1
Total: 3
Race brdcast times: // Comm. brdcast times:
6:01 PM – 6:03 PM – 2 // 6:03 PM – 6:06 PM – 3
6:06 PM – 6:10 PM – 4 // 6:10 PM – 6:12 PM – 2
6:12 PM – 6:28 PM – 16 // 6:28 PM – 6:31 PM – 3
6:31 PM – 6:35 PM – 4 // 6:35 PM – 6:38 PM – 3
6:38 PM – 6:46 PM – 8 // 6:46 PM – 6:48 PM – 2
6:48 PM – 6:54 PM – 6 // 6:54 PM – 6:56 PM – 2
6:56 PM – 7:03 PM – 7 // 7:03 PM – 7:05 PM – 2
7:05 PM – 7:14 PM – 9 // 7:14 PM – 7:16 PM – 2
7:16 PM – 7:24 PM – 8 // 7:24 PM – 7:26 PM – 2
7:26 PM – 7:28 PM – 2 // 7:28 PM – 7:30 PM – 2
7:30 PM – 7:40 PM – 10 // 7:40 PM – 7:42 PM – 2
7:42 PM – 7:51 PM – 9 // 7:51 PM – 7:53 PM – 2
7:53 PM – 8:00 PM – 7 // 8:00 PM – 8:02 PM – 2
8:02 PM – 8:09 PM – 7 // 8:09 PM – 8:11 PM – 2
8:11 PM – 8:14 PM – 3 // 8:14 PM – 8:17 PM – 3
8:17 PM – 8:21 PM – 4 // 8:21 PM – 8:24 PM – 3
8:24 PM – 8:36 PM – 12 // 8:36 PM – 8:39 PM – 3
8:39 PM – 8:47 PM – 8 // 8:47 PM – 8:50 PM – 3
8:50 PM – 9:00 PM – 10 // 9:00 PM – 9:03 PM – 3
9:03 PM – 9:05 PM – 2 // 9:05 PM – 9:07 PM – 2
9:07 PM – 9:51 PM – 44 // 9:51 PM – 9:52 PM – 1
9:52 PM – 10:06 PM – 14 // 10:06 PM – 10:08 PM – 2
10:08 PM – 10:37 PM – 29 // 10:37 PM – checkered flag
Total race brdcst time: 225 // Total comm. brdcst time: 51
Number of companies featured during broadcast: 22
(Cook Out cookout.com ; Sonic; Applebee’s; Coca-Cola, Coke Zero Sugar; Monster Energy; Busch Beer; Toyota; Sunoco; GoodYear; Geico; Progressive; Liberty Mutual; ebay motors; BuildSubmarines.com ; Ashley Furniture; Credit One Bank; Xfinity, Xfinity mobile ; NFL on NBC & Peacock; Super Moto Cross Finals on USA & Peacock; IndyCar; NASCAR tracks app; NASCAR.com/fordplayoffspromo ; NBC Sports on Sirius XM NASCAR Radio Channel 90; NASCAR Powerball Playoff powerball.com/nascar-powerball-playoff ; NASCAR.com/FanRewards ; Upcoming Xfinity race; Upcoming Cup race)
Commercials during race broadcast: ‘Side-by-Side’ (‘Thank you!’ to all of the participating sponsors!)
9:15 PM – 9:19 PM
Ashley Furniture; Progressive; Wendy’s; Xfinity; 5 Hour Energy drink; Upcoming Cup race, Coca-Cola, Busch Beer, Geico, Xfinity, NASCAR.com/Tickets
9:25 PM – 9:26 PM
Xfinity; Advance Auto Parts & DieHard; Ashley Furniture; 5 Hour Energy drink
9:33 PM – 9:35 PM
Toyota; Xfinity; Advance Auto Parts & DieHard; Upcoming Cup race, Coca-Cola, Busch Beer, Geico, Xfinity, NASCAR.com/Tickets ; Upcoming Cup race
9:43 PM – 9:46 PM
Wendy’s; Ashley Furniture; Straight Talk Wireless; 5 Hour Energy drink; Progressive; TexasMotorSpeedway.com