Television is the predominant filter through which even the most devoted fan sees the majority of the sport. Most ardent followers attend only a handful of races in person. People who will be working on the NBC-Turner coverage that will begin with the July Daytona race next year are saying privately that they're glad to be going second. Fox will open the season with the Daytona 500 and carry the races in the first half of 2001, and it will be first to face the fans' judgment. The sad thing is that much of that judgment might already be made, and that is patently unfair.
Nobody can possibly know that answer right now.
When NBC or Turner shows that race next August, it may be paying up to 10 times that amount for those rights. The total amount of time in an hour devoted to commercial announcements may go up by a minute, perhaps two. But fans are already angry at the amount of race time lost to advertising under the current deals, so the prevalence of commercials won't be a problem exclusive to the new contract. And now they will have greater resources at their disposal than ever before to come up with new innovations. Some will enhance the viewer's ability to follow a race.