If NASCAR’S media machine hasn’t already ruined the on-track action, that day is not far off. Last February, I watched the entire Daytona 500, a yearly ritual I doggedly hope will spark personal interest in NASCAR racing. It pays to be a NASCAR fan, as the 36 annual races and continual NASCAR programming on the Speed Channel offer boatloads of potential entertainment for a racerhead.

Once again, however, the NASCAR bug didn’t bite.

The problem for me is that the rampant commercialism, milquetoast driver interviews, and lack of candor from anyone associated with a microphone have drained the realism and left a void that’s now filled with incessant sponsor mentions and hollow wholesomeness. It feels patronizing, like a Disney version of a racing series where feuds don’t exist, everyone’s always happy, and no one says ....

“NASCAR was one of the first sporting events to actively embrace and promote their sponsors,” says Eric Wright. He’s the V-P of Research and Development for Joyce Julius, a company that tracks how much time a company logo appears on TV during a race and how often company names are mentioned—not including the commercials. I called Wright to find out if the frequency of sponsor plugs had recently gone up significantly.

In 2005, there were 595 hours in which corporate logos were visible on the tube. In 2006, there were 625 hours, a five-percent increase. In 2005, the names of sponsoring companies were mentioned 11,917 times over the air during the season, but the next year there was a four-percent decrease to 11,417.

So the data don’t show how bad it is, but let’s consider the now-meaningless driver interviews in the aftermath of the on-track contact between Tony Stewart and Kurt Busch at this year’s Daytona 500. Both were running at the front most of the race, and either driver could have won. On lap 152, with Stewart leading Busch, Stewart’s car got momentarily squirrelly, Busch tapped his rear bumper, and both cars hit the wall. Stewart’s car was totaled, but Busch drove his back to the pits for repairs...