After Stages 1 and 2 passed peacefully with victories for Team Penske drivers, Justin Haley and Christopher Bell brought out the first caution of the GEICO 500 in the final stage. Bell’s day at Talladega will end after significant damage from RWR’s #51 car spinning into the #20, courtesy of a Chase Elliott bump on Lap133. 

But the true highlight of the matter is that FOX’s commercial obligations led fans to miss the first time a caution would take place in a ‘Dega race after seeing the only yellows waved for stage breaks.

FOX misses its first caution with extensive commercial breaks

In a separate update from The Athletic’s Jordan Bianchi on Twitter, Christopher Bell reportedly tells his team over the radio, “I’m done. I’m stuck in the grass.“ Another update from Justin Haley’s radio conversations stated, “I can’t race it” with the way how the tow is bent.” 

Other tweets by Bob Pockrass and Jeff Gluck witnessed fans express their disappointment over the extensive ad breaks disrupting the racing excitement for unnecessary periods. This spectator explains the frustrations best in analytical reasoning: ”I’m not saying anything that dozens of other fans haven’t said, but please, for the love of god, talk about this on the show, and don’t let up. Fox is doing a massive disservice to NASCAR and fans.”

Many echoed this sentiment, but this comment resonated the best as it read, “Something I’ve never seen suggested, why can’t they do commercials the entire time under yellow, come back with 1 to go, give us the update on pit stops and go green. Why do we need to come back from commercials just to watch 9 second stops and then go back to commercial.”

However, another user tried to fan the flames with his point of view on this timeless debate, “For all complaining about commercials. Sponsors pay lots of money for their ads. If they don’t purchase advertising, then NO TV coverage at all. Be glad our sport still has people spending money on advertising. They always show the cause of caution when they come back….”

But as Jeff Gluck writes, expressing his own expert disappointments, “Of course the one wreck so far today happens during another commercial.” It is also important to remember that the journalist “tried not to complain about commercials today, but Fox just took a full-screen ad with five laps to go in Stage 2.”

Christopher Bell ends day early after Chase Elliott bump

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Regardless, the conversations will only cease to exist after the sanctioning body, and all the beneficiaries involved realize that collective fan satisfaction is the reason for NASCAR to grow beyond boundaries, contending for its spot alongside the various competitors battling it out to emerge as the world’s premier racing viewership experience.

In another light, Christopher Bell’s careful fuel management throughout the race ended in disappointment. He wasn’t the only Toyota driver to wreck out, as teammate Denny Hamlin, 23XI Racing’s Bubba Wallace, and LMC’s Erik Jones also DNF’ed after a single-file pileup on Lap 157. But Bell barely expected his own misfortunes in “full-on ride it out mode,” as stated to Pockrass in another interview.

He laments, “I don’t know how straightened the tires were, but there was a lot of damage, so I don’t think anything was gonna come out of it.” Expressing his disappointments further, Bell concludes on the topic of “fuel-mileage” stages at Talladega. “I mean that’s just the name of the game now. You got to save as much as you can, until the green flag stop. And then the race happens after the green flag stop…’