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Broadcaster:	TNT
Event:	Winston Cup Sharpie 500
From:	Bristol Motor Speedway
Date:	8/25/01

The November 1998 issue of Stock Car Racing Magazine ran a story about racing on TV. Various people from ESPN pointed out that the producer and director make every attempt to stay with the action after the caution comes out to cover pit stops. They also try to make every attempt to return to the coverage before the re-start. That started me thinking. Knowing the frequency of commercials that are run during the race, I was curious as to how long these commercial breaks were and how long they stayed with the coverage during the green flag, how long they were away during cautions, and when-and-where they broke away from or returned to coverage.

I broke out my trusty stopwatch and this is what resulted:

Rules:

The start time and finish time reflect what my watch said. They may or may not be the official time.
The difference between total commercial time plus non-commercial coverage and the official race duration is the margin of error.

All times are rounded to the second.

Tech Facts, NASCAR 50th Anniversary Moments, etc. are included in coverage times. "This ... special presentation is sponsored by..." are not included in coverage times.

Times where green flag racing has gone caution during commercial or caution has gone green during commercial are roughly divided in half and are denoted by preceding asterisk (*).

Times preceeded by sharp (#) denotes an estimated time since re-start. Times are estimated based on average lap time and where the leader was on the track when coverage was resumed.

Cautions times are started when announcer says "Caution is out!" rather than the leader at the start/finish line, as TNN has a peculiar habit of not showing the race to the line.