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☆ Australia regulator targets 'carbon neutral' claims in greenwashing crackdown
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-21 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Office buildings are seen amidst the easing of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) restrictions in the Central Business District of Sydney, Australia, June 3, 2020. ASIC has filed three lawsuits alleging unfounded environmental claims by two pension funds and a personal finance platform, and named so-called greenwashing as one of its priority enforcement areas for 2024. she added.,The regulator would hold investment distribution platforms accountable for the products they sell. So far, the regulator had issued interim orders to stop the distribution of some 80 investment products which it considered inappropriate. "For a number of those stop orders, the issuers of the products did step back, they've corrected ... and they've reissued it," she said.

Persons: Loren Elliott, Sarah Court, they've, Byron Kaye, Ayushman, Subhranshu Sahu, Miral Organizations: Central Business District of, REUTERS, Australian Securities and Investments Commission, Thomson Locations: Central Business District of Sydney, Australia, Melbourne, Sydney

☆ Canada tax rule curbs Airbnb deductions to ease rental shortage
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-21 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsTORONTO, Nov 21 (Reuters) - Canada introduced tax measures on Tuesday to ease a severe rental housing shortage by limiting income tax deductions on short-term rentals on services such as Airbnb Inc (ABNB.O) and VRBO, joining many countries that are enacting similar laws. The new rules apply as of Jan. 1 in provinces and municipalities that bar short-term rentals, and affect deductions such as interest expenses, the federal government said in its fall economic statement. In Montréal, Toronto and Vancouver alone, an estimated 18,900 homes were being used as short-term rental properties in 2020, the report added, noting that the number "has almost surely increased in recent years." Starting in 2024, the government will spend C$50 million ($36 million) over three years to enable municipal enforcement of restrictions on short-term rentals. Gabriel Giguère, public policy analyst at Montreal Economic Institute, criticized the government's decision to modify the tax treatment of the expenses of owners of short-term rental apartments.

Persons: Dado Ruvic, Nathan Rotman, Gabriel Giguère, Giguère, Nivedita Balu, Richard Chang, Leslie Adler Organizations: REUTERS, Rights TORONTO, Inc, Canada, Montreal Economic Institute, British Columbia, Thomson Locations: Canada, Montréal, Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal, Australia, Italy, Canadian, U.S, Florence, Byron, British

Parent Singapore Telecommunications (STEL.SI) announced the resignation of Optus CEO Kelly Bayer Rosmarin days after a network-wide outage left nearly half of Australia's 26 million people without phone or internet for 12 hours. Appointed in April 2020, Rosmarin headed Optus through two national scandals that have tarnished the reputation of the telco giant. A massive data hack last year exposed the personal data of 10 million Australians and triggered a class action lawsuit and multiple investigations from regulators. Optus executives told the parliamentary hearing on Friday the telco provider had not foreseen a network-wide outage and so had no backup plan in place. (This story has been corrected to change date of Optus network outage to earlier this month, not last week, in paragraph 7)Reporting by Himanshi Akhand in Bengaluru, and Lewis Jackson and Byron Kaye in Sydney; Editing by Lisa Shumaker and Stephen CoatesOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Kelly Bayer, Michael Venter, Singtel, Rosmarin, ”, telco, Yuen Kuan, Peter Kaliaropoulos, Himanshi, Lewis Jackson, Byron Kaye, Lisa Shumaker, Stephen Coates Organizations: telco Optus, Parent Singapore Telecommunications, Optus, Triple, Thomson Locations: Optus, Bengaluru, Sydney

A board displaying stock prices is adorned with the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) logo in central Sydney, Australia, February 13, 2018. That will, however, take time, with the overhaul now expected to finish in 2029, some 13 years after it began. It also prompted the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) to open an investigation into the exchange's disclosures about the project. ASX said it expected the first stage of the new project, clearing software, to cost between A$105 million and A$125 million with delivery around 2026. The cost and timing of the settlement and other software will be decided in 2024.

Persons: David Gray, Tim Whiteley, Joe Longo, Longo, Byron Kaye, Himanshi, Edwina Gibbs Organizations: Australian Securities Exchange, REUTERS, Tata Consultancy Services, New, Australian Securities and Investments Commission, Thomson Locations: Sydney, Australia, India, Finland, Canada, New York, Bengaluru

☆ Australian telco Optus tells lawmakers it had no plan to address total outage
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-17 | by ( Byron Kaye | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Singtel has said that while Optus experienced an outage after its software upgrade, the upgrade itself was not the cause. "Singtel will support Optus as it learns from what has occurred and continues to improve," the Singapore company said a day earlier. Kanagaratnam told the hearing Optus never expected a total shutdown because it had filters designed to stop all 90 of the company's routers from being overloaded with data. "The outage was a result of our defence not working as it should have," he said. Bayer Rosmarin said 228 calls to Australian emergency hotline Triple-0 failed to connect because of the outage, but the telco had followed up all incidents and "thankfully everybody is OK".

Persons: Kanagaratnam, Singtel, Kelly Bayer Rosmarin, Bayer Rosmarin, telco, Byron Kaye, Gerry Doyle Organizations: SYDNEY, Optus, Singapore Telecommunications, Triple, Bayer, Thomson Locations: Singapore

Broken Ethernet cable is seen in front of binary code and words "cyber security" in this illustration taken March 8, 2022. "We're also seeing a greater interest from state actors in Australia's critical infrastructure." In May, the Five Eyes intelligence alliance and Microsoft (MSFT.O) said a state-sponsored Chinese hacking group was spying on U.S. critical infrastructure organisations. Techniques used by the China hacking group could be used against Australia's critical infrastructure including telecommunications, energy and transportation, the report said. Marles said Australia's relationship with China, its largest trading partner, was "complex" and the government had never pretended the relationship would be easy.

Persons: Dado Ruvic, cybercrime, Richard Marles, We're, Marles, Matthew Warren, Nigel Phair, Renju Jose, Byron Kaye, Lincoln, Edwina Gibbs Organizations: REUTERS, Rights, U.S, Australian Cyber Security, ABC Radio, Microsoft, RMIT University Centre, Cyber Security Research, Australian Securities and Investments, Australia, Monash University, DP, Optus, Thomson Locations: Britain, U.S, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, China, Sydney

☆ Singtel-owned Optus says massive Australia outage was after software upgrade
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-13 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

SYDNEY, Nov 13 (Reuters) - Australian telecoms provider Optus said on Monday that a massive outage which effectively cut off 40% of the country's population and triggered a political firestorm was caused by "changes to routing information" after a "routine software upgrade". Optus said in a statement that an initial investigation found the company's network was affected by "changes to routing information from an international peering network" early that morning, "following a routine software upgrade". "These routing information changes propagated through multiple layers in our network and exceeded preset safety levels on key routers which could not handle these," the company said. "This resulted in those routers disconnecting from the Optus IP Core network to protect themselves." The company added that it had "made changes to the network to address this issue so that it cannot occur again".

Persons: telco, Byron Kaye, Christopher Cushing Organizations: SYDNEY, Optus, Singapore Telecommunications, Thomson Locations: Australian, Australia

CBA said cash profit was A$2.5 billion ($1.6 billion) for the quarter, which was 3% better than a consensus estimate for the period, according to data aggregator Visible Alpha. "Home lending margins stabilised in the quarter," it added, without giving figures. Shares of CBA rose as much as 1% in morning trading, in line with the broader market (.AXJO) as analysts welcomed the better-than-expected margin outcome and a smaller-than-expected provision for potential loan impairments. Commenting on the bank's stabilising home loan margins, E&P Financial analyst Azib Khan said that "it would be helping on this front that CBA has been willing to forgo market share". For the year to September, CBA said it grew its mortgage book at 0.7 times the rate of the overall mortgage industry.

Persons: Brendan Sproules, Azib Khan, Himanshi, Shilpi Majumdar Organizations: Commonwealth Bank of, ANZ, Westpac, National Australia Bank, CBA, Citi, P, Thomson Locations: Bengaluru

That pushed net profit from the bank's institutional unit up 53% to overtake its retail unit, by dollar value, in the year to September, and helped the Melbourne-listed company grow overall profit 14% to A$7.4 billion ($4.7 billion), just missing a Visible Alpha consensus forecast of A$7.56 billion. But analysts expressed concern about a faster-than-expected narrowing of profit margin from the bank's retail unit, the only one of Australia's so-called big four lenders that has persisted with offering cash handouts to lure mortgage customers looking for a cheaper deal. The logo of the ANZ Bank is seen at Lambton Quay, in Wellington, New Zealand November 10, 2022. ANZ CEO Shayne Elliott denied forgoing margin to grow mortgages faster than the market, and challenged comments from other banks that have said they were intentionally slowing mortgage growth while competition eroded profit. ANZ declared a final dividend of 94 Australian cents per share, up from 74 cents a year ago.

Persons: NIM, Lucy Craymer, Shayne Elliott, we've, Byron Kaye, Rishav Chatterjee, Roushni Nair, Lisa Shumaker, Stephen Coates Organizations: ANZ, Westpac, National Australia Bank, midsession, ANZ Bank, REUTERS, UBS, Thomson Locations: Melbourne, Lambton Quay, Wellington , New Zealand, Sydney, Bengaluru

☆ Gordon Ramsay welcomes sixth child to his ‘brigade’ with wife Tana Ramsay
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-11 | by ( Dan Heching | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +1 min

CNN —Gordon Ramsay is a father for the sixth time with his wife of almost 30 years, Tana Ramsay. The celebrity chef posted a trio of photos from the hospital on his verified Instagram account Saturday, revealing the pair had welcomed a son, Jesse James Ramsay. “What an amazing birthday present,” Ramsay, who turned 57 on November 8, wrote in the caption, adding, “please welcome Jesse James Ramsay, 7lbs 10oz whopper! Ramsay and wife Tana have been married since 1996 and are parents to daughters Tilly, Megan and Holly Anna, and sons Jack Scott and Oscar. When Byron answered, Ramsay said, “Byron!

Persons: CNN — Gordon Ramsay, Tana Ramsay, Jesse James Ramsay, ” Ramsay, 7lbs, Ramsay, ”, …, Tana, Tilly, Megan, Holly Anna, Jack Scott, Oscar, “, Kelly Clarkson, Megan’s, Byron, Clarkson, FaceTime Byron, “ Byron, It’s Organizations: CNN, ” CNN

☆ ‘Dream Scenario’ Review: Nicolas Cage in a Fable of Fame
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-10 | by ( Kyle Smith | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +1 min

Nicolas Cage Photo: A24Whether sexy, sinister or surreal, dreams are . In “Dream Scenario,” fascination and boredom grapple for the upper hand in the tale of a college biology professor who is both unusually dull and yet nationally known. As played by Nicolas Cage in an amusing hangdog performance, the dull Boston academic Paul Matthews discovers that he’s popping up in his daughter’s dreams, as a character who just stands around while scary things happen. Like Byron, he becomes famous overnight, but unlike Byron, he has no talent. There isn’t anything special about him, except that he happens to be on everyone’s mind at the same time.

Persons: Nicolas Cage, Kim Kardashian, Paul Matthews, —, Paul, Byron Locations: America, Boston

The National Australia Bank Logo is seen on a branch in central Sydney, Australia, February 8, 2018. That has left NAB, ranked third for mortgages but first for business loans, in a prime position as the country's retail lenders look elsewhere for growth. We're not abandoning (mortgages), we're tilting towards our business bank." Larger mortgage rival Westpac (WBC.AX) also posted a higher annual profit on Monday, despite a decline in home loan profit. The company's net interest margin, a closely-watched bank metric of lending interest income minus payouts to deposit accounts, shrank to 1.71% as of Sept. 30, from 1.77% at March-end.

Persons: Daniel Munoz, Ross McEwan, We're, Azib Khan, Roushni Nair, Archishma Iyer, Shounak Dasgupta, Jamie Freed Organizations: National, REUTERS, NAB, SYDNEY, National Australia Bank, Westpac, P, Thomson Locations: Sydney, Australia, Bengaluru

☆ Byron Wien, Wall Street Seer of the Unexpected, Dies at 90
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-09 | by ( Trip Gabriel | More About Trip Gabriel | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

At age 80, Byron Wien compiled “20 Life Lessons” from a long career as a Wall Street soothsayer. “If you work forever, you can live forever,’’ he explained. “I know there is an abundance of biological evidence against this theory, but I’m going with it anyway.”Mr. Wien (pronounced ween) didn’t outrun biology. But when he died on Oct. 25, at 90, he was still engrossed daily in reading the economic tea leaves for his most recent employer, the private equity firm Blackstone. He continued to call politicians, central bankers and financial titans around the world for intelligence to help shape his strategic reports for his firm.

Persons: Byron Wien, “, ”, ’ ’, Mr, Blackstone, weren’t, Joan Solotar, Wien’s, Byron Organizations: titans, Blackstone

SOUTHAMPTON, Bermuda (AP) — Alex Noren worked hard on his wedge game and it paid off Thursday in the Butterfield Bermuda Championship with 10-under 61, giving him a two-shot lead among early starters on a calm day at Port Royal. He set a tournament record with 11 birdies, and his 61 broke by two shots his lowest score on the PGA Tour. “It was quite easy conditions and there's a lot of wedges out there,” Noren said. Garrigus hasn't made the cut in a PGA Tour or Korn Ferry Tour event since April 2022, a dubious stretch of 20 tournaments. The previous PGA Tour record was 59 straight fairways.

Persons: — Alex Noren, Noren, Vince Whaley, Dylan Wu, Robert Garrigus, ” Noren, ”, Byron Nelson, Woods, Erik van Rooyen, Van Rooyen, Garrigus, Garrigus hasn't, I’ve, ” Garrigus, “ I’ve, Wu, Adam Long, Long, “, ” Long Organizations: Butterfield Bermuda, Port Royal, PGA, PGA Tour, FedEx Locations: SOUTHAMPTON, Bermuda, Japan, Mexico, Minnesota, Port, Garrigus, Las Vegas

☆ Chaos as Optus outage disconnects half of Australia
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-08 | by ( Byron Kaye | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

"Because of the outage it won't load," Rogers told Reuters while he was waiting at the pharmacist for the internet to return. Optus, which is owned by Singapore Telecommunications, (STEL.SI) gave no explanation for the outage except to say it was investigating it. Until then, even taking a walk became more difficult, at least for people who needed directions. An office worker from Sydney told Reuters he could not get into his building because the door required an internet-connected smartphone application to unlock. ($1 = 1.5538 Australian dollars)Reporting by Byron Kaye with additional reporting by Kirsty Needham and Sam Holmes; Editing by Stephen CoatesOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Chris Rogers, Rogers, I've, Michael Clements, Angela Ican, we've, Roderick Geddes, Byron Kaye, Kirsty Needham, Sam Holmes, Stephen Coates Organizations: SYDNEY, Optus, Reuters, Reserve Bank of Australia, Royal Australian College of General, Singapore Telecommunications, Sydney, Thomson Locations: Sydney

☆ Chaos as Optus Outage Disconnects Half of Australia
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-07 | by ( Nov. | At P.M. | ) www.usnews.com time to read: +3 min

"Because of the outage it won't load," Rogers told Reuters while he was waiting at the pharmacist for the internet to return. Optus, which is owned by Singapore Telecommunications, gave no explanation for the outage except to say it was investigating it. Until then, even taking a walk became more difficult, at least for people who needed directions. An office worker from Sydney told Reuters he could not get into his building because the door required an internet-connected smartphone application to unlock. ($1 = 1.5538 Australian dollars)(Reporting by Byron Kaye with additional reporting by Kirsty Needham and Sam Holmes; Editing by Stephen Coates)

Persons: Byron Kaye SYDNEY, Chris Rogers, Rogers, I've, Michael Clements, Angela Ican, we've, Roderick Geddes, Byron Kaye, Kirsty Needham, Sam Holmes, Stephen Coates Organizations: Optus, Reuters, Reserve Bank of Australia, Royal Australian College of General, Singapore Telecommunications, Sydney Locations: Sydney

The results show how Australia's retail banks are leaning into businesses outside their traditional earnings engine of mortgages as higher interest rates raise the cost of repayments, spurring competition which has flattened profit margins. Sydney-listed Westpac said profit from its consumer division, which has just over one-fifth of Australian mortgages, shrank 7% in its full-year to end-September. Westpac gave no profit forecasts but said April-to-September trading was "more challenging" than the previous six months and "this is expected to continue into 2024". "If that does eventuate, interest rates will probably need to be higher than what we're thinking," he said on a call with analysts and media. Westpac declared a final dividend of 72 Australian cents per share, up from 64 Australian cents a year earlier.

Persons: David Gray, Azib Khan, Peter King, We've, Byron Kaye, Roushni Nair, Upasana Singh, Andrew Heavens, Josie Kao, Aurora Ellis Organizations: Australia's Westpac Banking Corp, REUTERS, Westpac, Commonwealth Bank, National Australia Bank, ANZ, Sydney, midsession, P Capital, Thomson Locations: Sydney, Australia, Ukraine, Bengaluru

Christopher Bell was set to represent JGR in the championship four, but rumors were flying that the entire organization might pull out of the race. Coy Gibbs, the vice chairman of the organization, son of team owner Joe Gibbs and Ty's father, had been found dead in his hotel room that morning and the team was in chaos. Joey Logano won the race and his second title, while Bell finished a distant 10th in the race and third in the championship standings. Stevens felt once the race began the team was able to focus on trying to win the title. If you have a weak part of your race team, the playoffs will find it.”___AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing

Persons: Joe Gibbs, Gibbs, Ty Gibbs, Christopher Bell, Coy Gibbs, Ty's, ”, Adam Stevens, Stevens, Kyle Busch, Bell, Joey Logano, “, ” Bell, you've, ” Stevens, Ryan Blaney, William Byron, Kyle Larson, Larson, Blaney, Byron, J.D, Coy, Heather, Busch, we’ve, ” Gibbs Organizations: Phoenix Raceway, JGR, Bell, Toyota Locations: AVONDALE, Ariz, prepping

☆ Trump’s efforts to overshadow DeSantis in Florida take center stage
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-04 | by ( Steve Contorno | Kristen Holmes | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +12 min

CNN —A Florida Republican lawmaker, after flipping his support to former President Donald Trump, is now publicly questioning Gov. Ron DeSantis’ support for the Jewish community. In the tug of war for home-state supremacy, Trump has gained the upper hand in part by exploiting rifts between DeSantis and Florida Republicans. Upstaging the governorThe personal vendettas help explain the lengths that Trump and his allies have traveled to upstage the Florida governor. “I think Ron DeSantis has been a good governor of Florida,” he told CNN.

Persons: Donald Trump, Ron DeSantis, DeSantis, Trump, Florida Sen, Rick Scott, Randy Fine, hasn’t, Scott, Fine, Byron Donalds, Matt Gaetz, ’, Trump’s, Nikki Haley, Sen, Joe Gruters, Gruters, ” Gruters, “, Paul Renner, ” Renner, ” DeSantis, Andrew Romeo, ” “, ” Romeo, —, Susie Wiles, Wiles, Justin Caporale, James Blair, Jennifer Locetta, Brian Hughes, DeSantis ’, “ He’s, Generra Peck, Marc Reichelderfer, Ken Cuccinelli, Matt Wolking, Erin Perrine, Kathleen Passidomo, ”, Stephen Cheung, Crooked Joe Biden, ” Cheung, Upstaging, Greg Steube, –, bagman, Caporale Organizations: CNN, Florida Republican, Trump, Florida Republicans, Republicans, DeSantis, GOP, Republican, Republican Party, Mar, Iran, Hamas, Sunshine State, Florida gubernatorial, South, Sunshine, “, White, Trump’s Department of Homeland Security, Capitol, Politico, Fair, Florida, House Locations: Florida, DeSantis, Orlando, Tallahassee, Miami, Hialeah, Israel, Iowa, South Carolina, ”, Washington, Lago

AVONDALE, Ariz. (AP) — Ryan Blaney was fastest of NASCAR's championship contenders Friday in the only practice session ahead of the title-deciding season finale Sunday at Phoenix Raceway. “Ryan Blaney gets around Phoenix really, really well,” said Blaney crew chief Jonathan Hassler. Blaney was third and followed by Christopher Bell, who is one of the final four drivers racing for the title. William Byron, winner at Phoenix in the spring, was seventh fastest and Kyle Larson was the slowest driver of the title contenders in 11th. Bell is the lone Toyota representative and driving for Joe Gibbs Racing, which last won a title with Kyle Busch in 2019.

Persons: — Ryan Blaney, “ Ryan Blaney, ”, Blaney, Jonathan Hassler, “ There's, ” Kyle Busch, Bubba Wallace, Christopher Bell, William Byron, Kyle Larson, Larson, “, Cliff Daniels, I've, ” Daniels, Bell, Byron, Joey Logano, Chase Elliott, Joe Gibbs, Kyle Busch Organizations: Phoenix Raceway, Phoenix, Chevrolet, Martinsville Speedway, Team Penske, Hendrick Motorsports, Toyota Locations: AVONDALE, Ariz, Phoenix, NASCAR's

The drivers have acknowledged Sunday's showdown at Phoenix Raceway lacks the hype of years past, but NASCAR pushed back as the weekend arrived. “We have a playoff system that I believe is the toughest in sports,” NASCAR President Steve Phelps said. With that will come personality. With that will come some storytelling.”He acknowledged NASCAR could do more for its young stars and said industry leaders are actively discussing increased engagement and storytelling. “I think we have a big opportunity as a sport because we have a crop of young drivers for fans to come in and embrace,” he said.

Persons: Kyle Larson, Christopher Bell, Ryan Blaney, William Byron —, Larson, Bell, Byron, Blaney's, Steve Phelps, ” Phelps, We’ve, Blaney unprompted, Dale Earnhardt Jr, Chase Elliott, Joey Logano, Kevin Harvick, Kyle Busch, Ross Chastain, Bubba Wallace, Martin Truex Jr, Denny Hamlin, Blaney, Steve O'Donnell, ” O'Donnell, “ We’re, ”, “ We’ve Organizations: NASCAR, Phoenix, “, Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, Netflix Locations: AVONDALE, Ariz, We’re, North America

☆ America's cities are vying for a hot new title: best place to ride out the coming dystopia
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-02 | by ( Matthew E. Kahn | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +14 min

For decades, cities have duked it out for titles like "best city for business" or "healthiest city in America," but now they're starting to compete for a new title: best place to ride out dystopia. While Sun Belt cities are working to mitigate these challenges, the increased risks also create an opportunity for once forgotten cities. The declaration has been followed up with investments in key areas — climate resilience was one of the four pillars that made up the city's four-year strategic plan released at the start of 2023. And the cities that could become climate havens have their weather downsides — Buffalo will still have some harsh winters, too. If Buffalo, Detroit, Pittsburgh, and other cities succeed in their climate-resilience agendas, they will grow, attracting residents from more at-risk areas of the country.

Persons: Tesla, Byron Brown, Redfin, Matthew E, Kahn Organizations: Los Angeles, Fortune, Sun, National Oceanic, Atmospheric Administration, Association of Environmental, Federal Emergency Management Agency, FBI, Street Foundation, Pittsburgh, The New York Times, University of Southern, Hoover Institution Locations: America, West, Midwest, Dallas, Houston, Atlanta, Buffalo , New York, Detroit, USA, Florida, California, South, Baltimore, Cincinnati, Phoenix, Angeles County, Miami, Dade County, Lake Erie, Buffalo, Duluth , Minnesota, Grand Rapids , Michigan, Chicago, Northern, Pittsburgh, Rust, Los Angeles, University of Southern California

AVONDALE, Ariz. (AP) — The oddsmakers named Kyle Larson the favorite to win the NASCAR championship, but half the field believe the person with the best chance to celebrate Sunday will be a spectator at Phoenix Raceway. “I told Erin, ‘You’ve have the best percentage to be happy after the race, a 50% shot to be happy,” Blaney said Thursday at Phoenix Raceway. Larson and Christopher Bell, longtime rivals in dirt track racing, have settled any past beefs and Byron and Blaney are already referring to each other as family. He was the final driver to qualify last Sunday at Martinsville Speedway, then had to scramble to book his trip out West in time for NASCAR championship obligations. But I just need to win and bring a championship back.”___AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing

Persons: Kyle Larson, Erin Blaney, It's, Ryan Blaney, William Byron, Blaney, ”, “, Erin, ‘ You’ve, ” Blaney, William, he's, Larson, Christopher Bell, Byron, Bell, Kyle, Chris, it's, NASCAR Hall of Famer Dale Earnhardt Jr, They're, ” Earnhardt, ” Byron, Dale Jarrett, He's, Jeff Gordon, ” LARSON, “ Cooper, Katelyn, ” BLANEY, PRIDE Blaney, Dave, Dale, Lou, Joe Gibbs Racing, Martin Truex Jr, Denny Hamlin, ” Bell Organizations: NASCAR, Phoenix Raceway, NBC, NASCAR Hall of Famer, WILLIE, Martinsville Speedway, American Airlines, PRIDE, Outlaws Locations: AVONDALE, Ariz, Phoenix, North Carolina, Charlotte, Ohio

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Rick Hendrick first met William Byron as a local Charlotte teenager, fan of Hendrick Motorsports and budding NASCAR driver. It's paid off as Byron heads to Phoenix Raceway this week with a shot at winning his first Cup title. William has always been pretty calculating, and he doesn’t drive over his head and he’s won races this year by making some aggressive moves. Should Byron win the title on Sunday, he'd be the first North Carolina-born and raised Cup champion since Dale Jarrett in 1999. 24 Chevrolet since Jeff Gordon's fourth title in 2001.

Persons: CHARLOTTE, — Rick Hendrick, William Byron, Hendrick, Hendrick snagged Byron, It's, Byron, Denny Hamlin, David Pearson, Chase Elliott, Kyle Larson, Alex Bowman, it’s, William, he’s, “, he'd, Dale Jarrett, Ryan Blaney, Jonathan Hassler, Blaney, Joey Logano, He's, Joe Gibbs, Christopher Bell, Adam Stevens, Bell, Cliff Daniels, Larson, William Byron BORN, Rudy Fugle, Jeff Gordon's Organizations: Hendrick Motorsports, NASCAR, Toyota, Phoenix, Martinsville, Hall of Famer, Hendrick, Ford, Team Penske, , North Carolina, PHOENIX, Homestead, Miami Speedway, Won, Darlington, Las Vegas, North Carolina Locations: N.C, North Carolina, , North, Norman, Oklahoma, Elk Grove , California, Vegas, Charlotte, North

There was Chase Elliott, one of his best friends, who won the 2020 Cup title and is NASCAR’s five-time reigning most popular driver. And what of William Byron, who only needed half the time to pass Blaney in career wins? Then he scored his second win of the season in the round of 12 of the playoffs at Talladega Superspeedway to earn an automatic berth into the round of eight. I think that’s the biggest thing that’s helped me out this year,” Blaney said. Rushbrook loves Blaney's chances come Sunday to give Ford a second consecutive Cup title.

Persons: CHARLOTTE, — Ryan Blaney, he'd, Chase Elliott, Bubba Wallace, Blaney, Michael Jordan, William Byron, “ There’s, ” Blaney, haven’t, Kyle, Larson, Chase, “, ’, Byron, Christopher Bell, Joey Logano, — Blaney, that’s, He's, Hendrick, Joe Gibbs, Denny Hamlin, Ford, Mark Rushbrook, —, Rushbrook, Logano, ” Rushbrook, Ryan Blaney, he's, ” Organizations: Sunday, Martinsville Speedway, Phoenix Raceway, Charlotte Motor, Talladega Superspeedway, Team Penske, Talladega, NASCAR, Homestead, Miami Speedway, Martinsville, Toyota, Ford Performance Motorsports, Phoenix, Penske Locations: N.C, Martinsville, Virginia

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