TNT Announces The Return Of Wide Open Coverage at Daytona

For the second straight year, TNT has secured sponsorship commitments from ten companies that will allow the network to broadcast Daytona's July race without national commercial interruption.

The ten sponsors that will present the Coke Zero 400 without national commercial breaks this year are Coca-Cola (through the Coke Zero brand), Coors Light, Hewlett-Packard, Papa John's Pizza, Sprint, Subway Restaurants, Toyota, the United States Army, Viagra, and Warner Bros. Entertainment.

Many of this year's sponsors have extensive histories of sponsoring NASCAR teams and races.

TNT boasts that its unique race telecast, dubbed "Wide Open Coverage", allows the network to replace national commercials with ads from the aforementioned companies running across the bottom part of the screen. The broadcast elements, such as leaderboards, also feature the logos of the ten companies.

Because the bottom part of the screen is covered in advertisements, the race telecast is in a letterbox format, allowing the viewer to see 22% more unobstructed race action—especially important at a restrictor-plate track such as Daytona, where most of the pack runs together throughout the entire race.

Last year, viewers only missed three green-flag laps of the 160-lap race due to local commercial interruption. The race, then called the Pepsi 400, was won by Jamie McMurray. McMurray broke a 161-race losing streak dating back to 2002.

Coverage begins at 6:30 PM, when Marc Fein hosts the NASCAR Live pre-race show. At 8:00 PM, the race will begin with an introduction to the Wide Open Coverage format by drivers McMurray, Tony Stewart, and Greg Biffle.

TNT's usual broadcast team, with Bill Weber, Kyle Petty, and Wally Dallenbach in the booth and Marty Snyder, Matt Yocum, Ralph Sheheen, and Lindsay Czarniak in the pits, will handle race broadcasting duties.