Man, you guys are tough! I love the show and can't wait for tonight's episode. Maybe I'm a dork.
The premise of the show is "old school racing" - no tree, no brackets, no official timeslip, etc. And although it is centered around racing, the real drama is the negotiation process--it's basically a social experiment about what people do when their valuable possession (their car) is on the line. The sandbagging, the fake nitrous bottles, etc. is all part of the fun.
As for the commercials right after the launch, yeah it's horribly annoying. The extra $10/month for TiVo is worth it right there--I just start watching the show about 10 minutes after it starts and fast forward through the commercials. So I'm spoiled, but I guess that's why I went to college.