plus 3, Pair Busted For Murder Of Local Man - WFMZ-TV Online

Pair Busted For Murder Of Local Man - WFMZ-TV Online
Reality Show: Drivers look forward to California comfort - NASCAR
UPDATE 4-Daimler scraps dividend after 2009 loss - Reuters
Daytona win completely changes life of McMurray - NASCAR

Pair Busted For Murder Of Local Man - WFMZ-TV Online

Posted: 18 Feb 2010 07:42 AM PST

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Charles Kilpatrick, 71, Exeter Township, Berks County

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Reality Show: Drivers look forward to California comfort - NASCAR

Posted: 18 Feb 2010 07:56 AM PST

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The Nationwide Series season began last Saturday at Daytona International Speedway. But to the drivers and teams, the Stater Bros. 300 at Auto Club Speedway is where the season starts. There are three restrictor-plate races on the Nationwide schedule, along with three road course events. But the bulk of the schedule -- the remaining 29 races, starting with the 2-mile oval at ACS -- is more representative of the series' racing venues.

"The real season starts at California because your performance there will be a pretty good indicator of where you stand in comparison with everyone else, and what areas you need to work on for the first part of the season," Jason Leffler said.

Moving past Daytona will be a good thing for Leffler. He was caught up in a 10-car incident midway through last Saturday's event and never recovered, finishing 33rd. He experienced similar disappointment last year. After a promising start in the 2009 season opener, he was hit with a five-lap aggressive driving penalty and finished 31st. However, he collected himself and finished fourth in the final standings, the second time in three seasons he's ranked among the top five.

Kyle Busch, the reigning Nationwide Series champion, may be looking ahead to next week when the series races in his hometown of Las Vegas. But he seems pretty comfortable at Auto Club Speedway. So does his Joe Gibbs Racing team. Come to think of it, so does Toyota. Busch, the defending race winner, made NASCAR history at Auto Club last season, becoming the first driver to win two national series races on the same day. After winning the Truck Series race, he also won the Nationwide Series event as part of a doubleheader.

With another win at Auto Club Speedway, Greg Biffle would tie Matt Kenseth, his Cup Series teammate with Roush Fenway Racing, for the most Nationwide Series wins at the track. Kenseth leads all drivers with four wins; Biffle has three. But Biffle, the 2002 champion, this year has switched Nationwide allegiances, driving a partial schedule for Baker Curb Racing. The team, formerly Brewco Motorsports, was home to Biffle for 27 races in 2005 (he finished 10th in the final standings with one win), and for select events throughout the 2006-07 seasons.

By the Numbers

Joe Gibbs racing drivers won the last four Nationwide Series races at Fontana with three different drivers: Tony Stewart, Kyle Busch and Joey Logano.

Number of races out of the past six won from the front-row (two from first and three from second).

Average starting position of Fontana Nationwide Series race winners.

Number of top-five finishes by Kevin Harvick at Fontana, the most of active drivers.

Number of wins at Fontana by Roush Fenway Racing (Cup -- 7, Nationwide -- 6, Truck -- 2), the most of all teams.

Fastest qualifying timein in piles per hour, for a Nationwide race at Auto Club Speedway, clocked by Tony Stewart in 2005.

Laps led at Fontana by Kyle Busch, the most of any driver.

Laps led by Joe Gibbs Racing drivers out of a possible 602 laps since 2008 (85 percent).

Year of first Nationwide race held at Auto Club Speedway. Starting from the 28th position on Oct. 19, Todd Bodine raced to the stripe and onto Victory Lane. Bodine's starting position was the lowest a California race winner has ever started.

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UPDATE 4-Daimler scraps dividend after 2009 loss - Reuters

Posted: 18 Feb 2010 07:14 AM PST

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* EBIT loss 1.51 bln eur; sees 2010 EBIT over 2.3 bln eur

Stocks

* Net loss 2.64 bln eur vs Rtrs poll avg 2.03 bln eur loss

* No dividend, poll's median forecast was 0.50 euro

* Warns of possible charges from Airbus A400M programme * Shares fall more than 8 pct to lowest since September 2009

(Adds management comments)

By Christiaan Hetzner

STUTTGART, Germany, Feb 18 (Reuters) - German carmaker Daimler (DAIGn.DE) scrapped its dividend for the first time in 14 years after it swung to a worse-than-expected 2009 net loss, sending shares down to their lowest level in five months.

Chief Executive Dieter Zetsche called the move an "exception" and said Daimler would make a payout for 2010, when it forecasts a rebound at premium car arm Mercedes will help it post over 2.3 billion euros ($3.12 billion) in operating profit -- far below the nearly 3 billion expected in a Reuters poll.

"While most auto stocks refused to give a 2010 profit outlook, Daimler was bold enough to give an outlook that is not as high as consensus expects," Morgan Stanley wrote in a note to clients, warning that the market would now likely slash its estimates for Daimler more than for other carmakers.

Shares sank more than 8 percent with investors unnerved by missing out on a dividend which analysts had tipped to come in at 0.50 euro cents. At 1424 GMT the shares were down 6.3 percent at 30.95 euros.

Some analysts said they thought the dividend move was Zetsche's olive branch to unions, who helped extend his contract at a supervisory board meeting on Wednesday.

Zetsche told Reuters Insider that he expected EADS (EAD.PA), in which Daimler holds 22.5 percent of the votes, and customers to strike a deal within two weeks to cover budget overruns in the Airbus A400M military transport plane.

Management hope any writedowns on the project could come before March, letting Daimler still squeeze a provision for the near-certain book loss into its final 2009 results.

While this would trigger a net loss even wider than the 2.6 billion euros Daimler posted on Thursday, it would effectively kitchen-sink all bad news into 2009.

"The balance sheet is then clean and solid," finance chief Bodo Uebber told Reuters after a news conference where he announced an impairment on deferred tax assets in the fourth quarter that analysts had not factored into their models.

Uebber oversaw vigorous cost cuts that shaved 5.3 billion euros from the budget in 2009. Daimler aims to retain some 5 billion of these improvements this year.

"We have increased the pace of our efficiency programmes once again, which will permanently improve our cost position," the CFO said.

The group expects to boost vehicle sales this year amid a 3 to 4 percent overall gain in global car demand and moderate growth in truck markets.

"Following a significant (20 percent) decrease in 2009, the Daimler Group assumes that its revenue will rise again this year, but will still be significantly lower than in 2008," when turnover reached 98.5 billion euros, the company said. <^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Analyst reaction on [ID:nLDE61H0S8]

Reuters Breakingviews column on [ID:nLDE61H0SY]

Reuters Insider video interview with Zetsche: here ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Zetsche may have retained the confidence of his board but he still has to put out a number of fires before he can focus on developing a coherent strategy for the longer term.

Together with Mercedes' new head of production, Wolfgang Bernhard, the Daimler duo aim to eventually lift the division's operating margin to 10 percent from a loss in 2009.

Daimler's passenger car business posted a sequential improvement in its quarterly operating results, returning to the black in the second half as planned, but the division's EBIT will only total some 1.5 billion euros this year.

Mercedes is losing out both to larger rival BMW (BMWG.DE) and its fleet of more fuel-efficient cars, as well as to premium carmaker Audi, whose high profitability is due in part to sharing costs with parent Volkswagen (VOWG_p.DE). (Editing by David Cowell) ($1=.7377 Euro)

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Daytona win completely changes life of McMurray - NASCAR

Posted: 18 Feb 2010 07:56 AM PST

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Jamie McMurray, the now-reigning Daytona 500 champion, was embraced in Manhattan the past two days, and not because millions of New Yorkers suddenly appreciate NASCAR because the sport's drivers have to avoid pot holes.

Sunday's asphalt malfunction was piddling to New Yorkers, according to David Letterman. "We have a pothole on 8th Avenue that's so big, it has its own gift shop," he joked.

Did any race fan expect anything less than a major helping of drama and intrigue in the Great American Race? We all know that the Daytona 500 was delayed two and a half hours, but count this one as an act of God.

"People blame NASCAR, but they don't control the weather," said physicist Dr. Diandra Leslie Pelecky, noting that significant rainfall and unseasonable cold will tend to crack asphalt, and a crystal ball has yet to be invented to predict when or where.

Most of the fans stayed. "If this thing ends at 4 a.m., I will be sitting here in the Weatherly Tower," said Mike Wright, a truck driver from Disputana, Va., during the second red flag. "It may have been the frozen tundra of Daytona, but I don't leave until the race is over, no way, no how. If the cars are still racing, you'd have to carry me out of here dead."

For the drivers, time flies when you're focused.

"The delays weren't really that big of a deal," McMurray said. "Carl [Edwards] ate three turkey sandwiches on pit road. Maybe that's why he didn't win. I had a granola bar and a banana. The break didn't seem that long. I would have guessed [the delay] was about 25 minutes."

With the cars silenced and crews working on patching the stubborn asphalt past the first turn, on pit road McMurray chatted with Jeff Gordon, who'd won NASCAR's marquee race in 2005.

"Jeff told me, 'Man, I'm having so much fun.' This was really good racing we were having."

McMurray knew his car was getting better as the sun went down and the track got colder. With two restrictor-plate wins in seven years of Cup racing, he sensed he'd be a factor when the white flag dropped. (Continued)

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