One thing fans of NASCAR learn is that sometimes racing includes shifting abruptly. This is certainly the case at a short track like Bristol Motor Speedway. It was also true on Sunday that the Cup race shifted abruptly from the beginning with the sweetness of our National Anthem being delivered by the adorable MRO Kids, to the volatile and raucous ending with foul language and fisticuffs of our racing warriors. Most fans will say, “That’s Bristol baby!” The fans watching at home got to see all of what occurred, including commercials, as, “That’s the price of a TV broadcast, baby!” For those folks who would 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 2026 Bass Pro Shops Night Race
Start time to record race/commercial periods: 7:21 PM
End time to record race/commercial periods: 10:47 PM
Total minutes of complete race broadcast: 206
Minutes of race broadcast: 184
Minutes of traditional commercials: 22
Minutes of side-by-side commercials: 16
Total number of commercials: 102
Total number of companies or entities advertised: 47
Total number of traditional commercials (not split-screen): 63
Total number of companies or entities advertised: 38
Total number of ‘Side-by-Side’ commercials during the broadcast (split-screen): 39
Total number of companies or entities advertised: 28
Number of times USA utilized ‘Side-by-Side’ commercials during the broadcast: 8
Companies seen the most in commercials during this broadcast: USA (11 times); Applebees (7 times); NASCAR (6 times); Sonic (6 times); Xfinity (6 times)
Breakdown of what the commercials were, by category:
NBC/USA TV Previews/Promos:
‘Friday Night Smackdown’ on USA usanetwork.com/Friday-night-smackdown – 3
WNBA on USA – 2
Upcoming Cup race on USA – 1
Golf Channel – 1
Soccer on USA & Fandango – 1
‘Line of Fire’ on NBC nbc.com/line-of-fire – 1
‘The Rainmaker’ usanetwork.com/the-rainmaker – 1
Total: 10
Local News/Sports/Points-of-Interest in Penna.
RiverviewChevyBuickGMC.com – 1
Sendell Mitsubishi sendellmitsubishi.com – 1
Total: 2
Restaurants/Food
Applebees applebees.com – 6
Sonic sonicdrivein.com – 4
Wendy’s wendys.com – 2
Arby’s arbys.com – 2
Chili’s chilis.com – 1
IHOP ihop.com – 1
KFC kfc.com/ – 1
Total: 17
Beer/Alcohol
Busch Light busch.com – 3
Total: 3
Car/Truck/Bike
Toyota toyota.com – 2
Valvoline valvoline.com – 2
Weather Tech WT.com – 2
Chevy chevy.com – 1
GMCDealer.com gmcdealer.com – 1
Total: 8
Insurance/Health
Liberty Mutual libertymutual.com – 2
NJM Insurance njm.com – 2
Progressive progressive.com – 1
Total: 5
Wireless Phone
Xfinity Mobile xfinitymobile.com – 2
Mint Mobile mintmobile.com – 1
Patriot Mobile patriotmobile.com – 1
StraightTalk.com straighttalk.com – 1
Total: 5
Financial
Ally Bank allybank.com – 1
NationalDebtRelief.com – 1
Total: 2
Technology
DraftKings.com draftkings.com – 2
Xfinity.com xfinity.com – 2
Kalshi Kalshi.com – 1
Total: 5
Products/Services for the Home and Personal Use
Skyrizi skyrizi.com – 2
Ashley Homestore ashleyhomestore.com – 1
PODS pods.com – 1
Trelegy trelegy.com – 1
Total: 5
Racing Related
NASCAR.com nascar.com – 1
Total: 1
Race brdcast times: // Comm. brdcast times:
7:21 PM – 7:24 PM – 3 // 7:24 PM – 7:27 PM – 3
7:27 PM – 7:33 PM – 6 // 7:33 PM – 7:35 PM – 2
7:35 PM – 7:59 PM – 24 // 7:59 PM – 8:01 PM – 2
8:01 PM – 8:17 PM – 16 // 8:17 PM – 8:20 PM – 3
8:20 PM – 8:27 PM – 7 // 8:27 PM – 8:29 PM – 2
8:29 PM – 8:32 PM – 3 // 8:32 PM – 8:34 PM – 2
8:34 PM – 9:08 PM – 34 // 9:08 PM – 9:10 PM – 2
9:10 PM – 9:13 PM – 3 // 9:13 PM – 9:15 PM – 2
9:15 PM – 9:57 PM – 42 // 9:57 PM – 9:58 PM –1
9:58 PM – 9:59 PM – 1 // 9:59 PM – 10:00 PM – 1
10:00 PM – 10:12 PM – 12 // 10:12 PM – 10:14 PM – 2
10:14 PM – 10:47 PM – 33 // 10:47 PM – checkered flag
Total race brdcst time: 184 // Total comm. brdcst time: 22
Number of companies featured during broadcast: 24
(Bass Pro Shops ; AMR Safety Team amr.net ; South Point Casino southpointcasino.com ; Dolly Parton’s ‘Imagination Library’ imaginationlibrary.com ; Coca-Cola; Busch Light; Toyota; Freeway Insurance; HendrickCars.com ; Echo Park Automotive; Fandango fandango.com ; DraftKings.com ; BuildSubmarines.com ; Starlink starlink.com ; Dollar Tree dollartree.com ; Credit One Bank; Bank of America; Xfinity; Consumer Cellular; ‘Anna Pigeon’ on USA ; WNBA on USA; Presidents Cup on Golf Channel; College Football on USA; NASCAR.com/thechasefordpromo ; Upcoming Cup race)
Commercials during race broadcast: ‘Side-by-Side’ (‘Thank you!’ to all of the participating sponsors!)
7:51 PM – 7:53 PM
Progressive; Ashley Furniture; Arby’s; Xfinity; NASCAR.com/SwearJar
8:09 PM – 8:11 PM
FreeStyle Libre; Golden Corral; Chevy; Arby’s; ‘Anna Pigeon’ on USA
8:44 PM – 8:46 PM
Texas A&M; KFC; Busch Light; ‘Anna Pigeon’ on USA
8:55 PM – 8:57 PM
Toyota; Sonic; Progressive; Golden Corral; NASCAR.com/Shop
9:27 PM – 9:29 PM
Breztri; Liberty Mutual; Chili’s; MS Now
9:35 PM – 9:37 PM
Xfinity; Sonic; Ashley Furniture; PODS; IHOP; WNBA on USA
9:44 PM – 9:45 PM
Chili’s; Toyota; NASCAR 2026; Upcoming Cup race on USA
10:06 PM – 10:09 PM
Zynga Poker; Applebees; Ashley Furniture; Mint Mobile; Wounded Warrior Project; Wendy’s