Despite it being nearly Halloween, the weather in Martinsville for Sunday’s Cup race was more like July. As would be the case during mid-summer, there was a gorgeous blue sky over the historic speedway, and there was lots of chatter about the heat in the cars. Make no mistake, though… there were plenty of drivers who left there feeling like they had been cursed by witches and drained by vampires, reminding everyone that Tuesday really will be Halloween. Also, during the broadcast, there were commercials haunting all of the action. For those fans 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 Xfinity 500
Start time to record race/commercial periods: 2:00 PM
End time to record race/commercial periods: 5:38 PM
Total minutes of complete race broadcast: 218
Minutes of race broadcast: 189
Minutes of traditional commercials: 29
Minutes of side-by-side commercials: 12
Total number of commercials: 113
Total number of companies or entities advertised: 57
Total number of traditional commercials (not split-screen): 84
Total number of companies or entities advertised: 52
Total number of ‘Side-by-Side’ commercials during the broadcast (split-screen): 29
Total number of companies or entities advertised: 16
Number of times NBC utilized ‘Side-by-Side’ commercials during the broadcast: 5
Companies seen the most in commercials during this broadcast: Toyota (7 times); Coca-Cola (6 times); WPXI (6 times); Wendy’s (6 times); Xfinity (4 times); Auto-Owners Insurance (4 times); Ashley Furniture (4 times)
Breakdown of what the commercials were, by category:
NBC/USA TV Previews/Promos:
‘The Voice’ nbc.com/the-voice – 2
Sunday Night Football on NBC/NBC Sports & Peacock – 2
Republican Presidential Debate on NBC – 1
Upcoming Cup race on NBC/NBC Sports Coca-Cola, Busch Beer, Xfinity, Geico NASCAR.com/tickets – 1
NFL + Plus.NFL.com – 1
Olympics on NBC nbcolympics.com salesforce.com/teamusa – 1
‘Bet the Edge’ on NBC YouTube – 1
Breeder’s Cup breederscup.com on NBC/USA/Peacock – 1
‘House of Villains’ on E https://www.eonline.com/shows/house_of_villains – 1
‘The Irrational’ nbc.com/the-irrational – 1
Peacock peacocktv.com – 1
‘Quantum Leap’ nbc.com/quantum-leap – 1
Total: 14
Movies
‘Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning’ missionimpossible.com – 1
Total: 1
Local News/Sports/Points-of-Interest in Penna.
NBC local newswpxi.com – 4
Giant Eagle gianteagle.com – 2
WPXI Thursday Night Football coverage – 1
WPXI Black & Gold Zone sponsored by Lady Luck Casino ladylucknemacolin.com – 1
Total: 8
Restaurants/Food
Wendy’s wendys.com – 6
Coca-Cola cocacola.com – 3
Golden Corral goldencorral.com/ – 3
Coke Zero Sugar us.coca-cola.com/zero-sugar – 2
Pepsi pepsi.com – 2
IHOP ihop.com – 1
McDonald’s mcdonalds.com – 1
Sonic sonicdrivein.com – 1
Total: 19
Beer/Alcohol
Keystone Light keystonelight.com – 1
Total: 1
Car/Truck/Bike
Chevy chevy.com – 2
Buyatoyota.com buyatoyota.com – 2
Toyota toyota.com (Toyota drivers) #ToyotaNation – 2
Toyota toyota.com – 1
Chevy chevy.com – 1
ebay motors ebay.com – 1
Neighborhood Ford Store neighborhoodfordstore.com – 1
Lexus GX lexus.com/GX – 1
Marathon Gas marathon.com – 1
Sunoco sunocoinc.com – 1
Total: 13
Insurance/Health
Auto-Owners Insurance autoowners.com (Martin Truex Jr.) – 4
Boys & Girls Clubs of America BGCA.org/nascar – 1
MedExpress.com medexpress.com – 1
Progressive progressive.com – 1
Total: 7
Wireless Phone
Mint Mobile mintmobile.com – 1
Xfinity Mobile xfinitymobile.com – 1
Total: 2
Home Improvement
KubotaUSA.com kubotausa.com – 2
Total: 2
Financial
Ally Bank allybank.com (Alex Bowman) – 2
Allegiant.com – 1
CreditKarma.com creditkarma.com – 1
Total: 4
Technology
GOVX.com – 1
Total: 1
Products/Services for the Home and Personal Use
Entresto.com entresto.com – 2
PODS pods.com – 2
ARIAT ariatwork.com – 1
Ashley Homestore ashleyhomestore.com – 1
Bass Pro Shops BassPro.com & Cabela’s cabelas.com – 1
Chewy.com – 1
Grainger grainger.com – 1
Total: 9
Racing Related
NASCAR Powerball Playoff powerball.com/nascar-powerball-playoff – 1
Busch Light Clash at the Coliseum NASCARClash.com – 1
Atlanta Motor Speedwayatlantamotorspeedway.com/ – 1
Total: 3
Race brdcast times: // Comm. brdcast times:
2:00 PM – 2:16 PM – 16 // 2:16 PM – 2:18 PM – 2
2:18 PM – 2:24 PM – 6 // 2:24 PM – 2:26 PM – 2
2:26 PM – 2:33 PM – 7 // 2:33 PM – 2:35 PM – 2
2:35 PM – 2:42 PM – 7 // 2:42 PM – 2:44 PM – 2
2:44 PM – 2:48 PM – 4 // 2:48 PM – 2:50 PM – 2
2:50 PM – 2:59 PM – 9 // 2:59 PM – 3:01 PM – 2
3:01 PM – 3:03 PM – 2 // 3:03 PM – 3:05 PM – 2
3:05 PM – 3:14 PM – 9 // 3:14 PM – 3:16 PM – 2
3:16 PM – 3:24 PM – 8 // 3:24 PM – 3:26 PM – 2
3:26 PM – 3:37 PM – 11 // 3:37 PM – 3:39 PM – 2
3:39 PM – 3:54 PM – 15 // 3:54 PM – 3:56 PM – 2
3:56 PM – 3:59 PM – 3 // 3:59 PM – 4:01 PM – 2
4:01 PM – 4:10 PM – 9 // 4:10 PM – 4:12 PM – 2
4:12 PM – 4:22 PM – 10 // 4:22 PM – 4:23 PM – 1
4:23 PM – 4:32 PM – 9 // 4:32 PM – 4:34 PM – 2
4:34 PM – 5:38 PM – 64 // 5:38 PM – checkered flag
Total race brdcst time: 189 // Total comm. brdcst time: 29
Number of companies featured during broadcast: 17
(Xfinity, XfinityMobile.com , Xfinity.com/Rewards ; AMR.net ; Sonic; Hunt Bros. Pizza; Coca-Cola, Coke Zero Sugar; Monster Energy; Busch Beer; ChevyCares.com ; Toyota, Toyota.com/racing ; Marathon Fuel; Geico; PODS; Novartis; Credit One Bank; Ruoff Mortgage ruoff.com ; College Football on NBC & Peacock; Sunday Night Football on NPC & Peacock; NASCAR Powerball Playoff powerball.com/nascar-powerball-playoff ; NASCAR.com/Drive ; NASCAR.com/Fantasy ; NASCAR.com/Mobile ; Upcoming Xfinity race; Upcoming Cup race)
Commercials during race broadcast: ‘Side-by-Side’ (‘Thank you!’ to all of the participating sponsors!)
3:47 PM – 3:49 PM
Advance Auto Parts & Die Hard ; Ashley Furniture; Verizon/FrontLine ; Sonic; Toyota; ‘Found’ on NBC
4:44 PM – 4:47 PM
XfnityMobile.com ; Ashley Furniture; Progressive; Sonic; NASCAR Powerball Playoff powerball.com/nascar-powerball-playoff ; ‘Found’ on NBC
4:53 PM – 4:55 PM
Verizon/FrontLine ; GoodYear; Ashley Furniture; Sonic; Safe Lite; ‘The Irrational’ on NBC
5:01 PM – 5:04 PM
NASCAR Powerball Playoff powerball.com/nascar-powerball-playoff ; Progressive; Sonic; ebay motors; Verizon/FrontLine ; Sunday Night Football on NBC & Peacock
5:12 PM – 5:14 PM
Toyota (various drivers); Xfinity; Advance Auto Parts & Die Hard; Verizon/FrontLine ; College Football on NBC & Peacock