On Sunday NASCAR held one of its longest races of the season at historic Darlington Raceway. For over four hours, drivers fought other drivers under threatening skies on a track known to tear up tires and put ugly scrapes on their flashy racecars. It was a great day for race fans as it just barely rained, there were only six cautions, and once again everyone had to wait till the last laps to have any idea who the victor might be. For the fans watching from home, there was all of that… and, of course, commercials. 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 2026 Cook Out Southern 500
Start time to record race/commercial periods: 4:42 PM
End time to record race/commercial periods: 9:13 PM
Total minutes of complete race broadcast: 271
Minutes of race broadcast: 244
Minutes of traditional commercials: 27
Minutes of side-by-side commercials: 39
Total number of companies or entities advertised: 60
Total number of traditional commercials (not split-screen): 53
Total number of companies or entities advertised: 38
Total number of ‘Side-by-Side’ commercials during the broadcast (split-screen): 105
Total number of companies or entities advertised: 44
Number of times USA utilized ‘Side-by-Side’ commercials during the broadcast: 15
Companies seen the most in commercials during this broadcast: USA (9 times); Sonic (9 times); Ashley Furniture (7 times); NASCAR (7 times); Toyota (6 times); Xfinity (6 times); Liberty Mutual (5 times); Arby’s (5 times); Busch Light (5 times); Breztri (5 times)
Breakdown of what the commercials were, by category:
NBC/USA TV Previews/Promos:
Golf on Golf Channel – 3
‘Anna Pigeon’ on USA usanetwork.com/usa-insider/franchise/anna-pigeon – 2
WNBA on USA – 2
CNBC Investing Club cnbc.com/joinjim – 1
‘The Librarians: The Next Chapter’ – tntdrama.com/shows/the-librarians-the-next-chapter – 1
Upcoming Cup race on USA – 1
Total: 10
Local News/Sports/Points-of-Interest in Penna.
Pella Window PellaPittsburgh.com – 1
RiverviewChevyBuickGMC.com – 1
Total: 2
Restaurants/Food
Sonic sonicdrivein.com – 5
Coca-Cola cocacola.com – 1
KFC kfc.com/ – 1
Monster Energy monsterenergy.com – 1
Total: 8
Beer/Alcohol
Twisted Tea twistedtea.com – 1
Total: 1
Car/Truck/Bike
GoodYear goodyear.com – 1
NAPA napaonline.com/ – 1
Toyota toyota.com – 1
Total: 3
Insurance/Health
NJM Insurance njm.com – 3
DAV.org – 1
Liberty Mutual libertymutual.com – 1
Wounded Warrior Project woundedwarriorproject.org – 1
Total: 6
Wireless Phone
Xfinity Mobile xfinitymobile.com – 2
StraightTalk.com straighttalk.com – 1
T-Mobile t-mobile.com/ – 1
Total: 4
Financial
Credit One Bank creditonebank.com – 1
Total: 1
Legal
Edgar Snyder edgarsnyder.com – 1
Peirce Law Group peircelaw.com – 1
Total: 2
Technology
Xfinity.com xfinity.com – 2
DraftKings.com draftkings.com – 1
GolfPass.com – 1
Power Ball powerball.com – 1
Total: 5
Products/Services for the Home and Personal Use
Breztri breztri.com – 3
Trelegy trelegy.com – 2
Ashley Homestore ashleyhomestore.com – 1
Ingrezza ingrezza.com – 1
Pumpkin Care Insurance pumpkin.care – 1
Skyrizi skyrizi.com – 1
Total: 9
Racing Related
NASCAR.com nascar.com – 2
Total: 2
Race brdcast times: // Comm. brdcast times:
4:42 PM – 4:45 PM – 3 // 4:45 PM – 4:47 PM – 2
4:47 PM – 4:50 PM – 3 // 4:50 PM – 4:53 PM – 3
4:53 PM – 5:24 PM – 31 // 5:24 PM – 5:27 PM – 3
5:27 PM – 6:06 PM – 39 // 6:06 PM – 6;09 PM – 3
6:09 PM – 6:10 PM – 1 // 6:10 PM – 6:12 PM – 2
6:12 PM – 7:01 PM – 49 // 7:01 PM – 7:03 PM – 2
7:03 PM – 7:19 PM – 16 // 7:19 PM – 7:21 PM – 2
7:21 PM – 7:23 PM – 2 // 7:23 PM – 7:25 PM – 2
7:25 PM – 7:57 PM – 32 // 7:57 PM – 7:59 PM – 2
7:59 PM – 8:19 PM – 20 // 8:19 PM – 8:22 PM – 3
8:22 PM – 8:57 PM – 35 // 8:57 PM – 9:00 PM – 3
9:00 PM – 9:13 PM – 13 // 9:13 PM – checkered flag
Total race brdcst time: 244 // Total comm. brdcst time: 27
Number of companies featured during broadcast: 27
(Cook Out cookout.com ; Sonic; Hunt Bros Pizza; Coca-Cola; Monster Energy; Busch Light; Ford, NASCAR.com/thechasefordpromo ; Toyota; HendrickCars.com; GoodYear; POET; Sunoco; Freeway Insurance; Liberty Mutual; BuildSubmarines.com; PODS; DraftKings.com; Morgan & Morgan; Credit One Bank; Ally Bank; Xfinity; Consumer Cellular; ‘Anna Pigeon’ on USA ; Soccer on USA; NASCAR Powerball Playoff powerball.com/nascar-powerball-playoff ; Upcoming Cup race)
Commercials during race broadcast: ‘Side-by-Side’ (‘Thank you!’ to all of the participating sponsors!)
5:09 PM – 5:12 PM
Progressive; Busch Light; Mint Mobile; IHOP; Toyota; ‘Anna Pigeon’ on USA
5:17 PM – 5:20 PM
Kalshi; Arby’s; Valvoline; Straight Talk; Ashley Furniture; Applebees; NASCAR.com/Tickets
5:35 PM – 5:37 PM
Bank of America; Golden Corral; Liberty Mutual; Xfinity; Twisted Tea; Sonic; TalladegaSuperSpeedway.com
5:42 PM – 5:45 PM
Breztri; Cricket; IHOP; Ashley Furniture; Starlink; Wendy’s; Cricket; WNBA on USA
5:53 PM – 5:56 PM
Toyota; Applebees; Kohls; Liberty Mutual; PODS; Mint Mobile; Sonic; ‘Anna Pigeon’ on USA
6:01 PM – 6:04 PM
Toyota; Breztri; Arby’s; Verizon Business; Progressive; O’Reilly Auto Parts Series on CW
6:22 PM – 6:25 PM
Chevy; Bank of America; Ashley Furniture; Liberty Mutual; T-Mobile; FreeStyle Libre; PODS; Applebees; WNBA on USA
6:29 PM – 6:32 PM
Ally Bank; Wendy’s; Busch Light; Xfinity; Valvoline; NAPA; IHOP
6:40 PM – 6:42 PM
DraftKings.com; Consumer Cellular; Sonic; Starlink; GoodYear; ‘Friday Night Smackdown’ on USA
6:52 PM – 6:54 PM
Toyota; Ashley Furniture; Arby’s; Liberty Mutual; Bank of America; Straight Talk; NASCAR.com/Tickets
7:10 PM – 7:13 PM
Progressive; Applebees; T-Mobile; Busch Light; Wendy’s; ‘Friday Night Smackdown’ on USA
7:36 PM – 7:39 PM
Ally Bank; KFC; FreeStyle Libre; Xfinity; Twisted Tea; IHOP; NASCAR.com/SwearJar
7:45 PM – 7:47 PM
Vabysmo; Arby’s; Mint Mobile; WT.com ; Ashley Furniture; Golden Corral
8:08 PM – 8:10 PM
Zynga Poker; Cricket; Busch Light; Kohls; Sonic; Toyota; Valvoline; Cricket
8:26 PM – 8:28 PM
Xfinity; Arby’s; Ashley Furniture; Bank of America; Busch Light; Progressive; IHOP