I wonder if Nextel has a watchful eye on Jeff Burton and where he currently sits in the standings.

Although, Ryan Newman was never a threat in the past two “Chase for the Cups,” Burton is showing the potential that a major competitor to Nextel could become the series champion.

Not to jinx Burton, but if he does win the title, does he have to claim himself as NEXTEL Cup champion, or just say “NASCAR Cup champion” when he does the post season media blitz? Also it seems that Cingular would get the most exposure out of the deal, the main reason any sponsor is involved with NEXTEL Cup Series.

The Nextel name is no where to be found on Jeff Burton's web site, in fact the NEXTEL Cup Series logo has been replaced with a Cingular logo on his uniform on most of the pages.

Pending a possible name change in the future for Cingular (personally I still think it would be nuts to drop a name that has so much equity behind it) it would be interesting to see how each side would market Burton if this is the scenario.  Rumor has it that Nextel is already working on a contingency plan.

But for now will just have to wait and see. There’s still a lot of racing left and you never know what can happen – just look at what happened in Kansas yesterday.