Just fyi, Nextel hasn't sponsored the series since 2007 when the merger happened with Sprint. Sprint is the current sponsor of the series.
I don't think KY has it in him to be consistent enough to win the Cup Championship yet. He gets too flustered and lets the Rowdy Busch in him get out too much to race for a Championship, imo. He races for the moment, which is good for the sport and the competitiveness since you don't have half the field just turning laps and feeling comfortable in their positions on the track. However, he's a hothead and can't control his temper and will wind up going wreckers or checkers in 50% of the races, and the 50% of those races he gets wreckers instead of settling for 2nd place.
I think RCR may have actually pulled their heads out of the sand this off season, but we'll see how they do at Fontana. Also, with the spoiler possibly coming back, it will effect all of teams, and those who can adapt to it and make it work the best with the rest of the configurations of the car will have the edge, at least until the rest of the field gets up to speed. I'm liking what I'm seeing out of the Petty camp with switching to Ford and joining forces with Yates. Yates always brings great engines to the table, but they can't find anyone to set a car up worth a shit or keep a driver that still has a lot of talent. For RPM, Sadler and Kahne were both strong up front during the 500, and that team has a lot of potential this year, imo. I think Stewart will have another stellar year, as well as Denny Hamlin, June Bug, Kasey Kahne, Happy Harvick, and my sleeper pick to have an outstanding year, Marcos Ambrose.
I like Carl Edwards and the fact that he usually races guys clean and can thread the needle a lot, but they seem to have fallen of the wagon a little bit compared to the more competitive teams. Maybe RF has it all figured out this year though, we'll see.