NASCAR crews, not drivers, punished for fight

[November 05, 2014]  NASCAR Sprint Cup drivers Jeff Gordon, Kevin Harvick and Brad Keselowski avoided fines after a fight on pit row Sunday at the AAA Texas 500, but crew chiefs and crew members received penalties on Tuesday resulting from the brawl at Texas Motor Speedway.

Gordon's crew chief, Alan Gustafson, and Kasey Kahne's crew chief, Kenny Francis, were hit with $50,000 fines and put on probation through the end of the season, which has six races left. Gustafson and Francis were cited for violating a rule that states the crew chief assumes responsibility for the actions of his team members.

Kahne crew member Jeremy Fuller and Gordon crew members Dwayne Doucette and Jason Ingle were each fined $25,000 and suspended for the next six Sprint Cup Series championship points races. Dean Mozingo, who is on Gordon's crew, was fined $10,000 and suspended for the next three Sprint Cup Series championship points races as a result of his involvement in the altercation.

WNBA

A man wielding a knife cut WNBA center Brittney Griner's elbow during an attack in China, but she was not seriously injured, according to her agent.
 

Griner did not require hospitalization to treat the injury, which was considered superficial. She was wearing a winter coat when a man ran at the players swinging a knife and yelling at them while they were on the way from a practice arena to the team bus. A teammate also was stabbed, but she was protected by jackets and not injured.

The man chased the team onto the bus and it reportedly took five minutes before he left on his own. The motive for the attack was not immediately known.

Griner, a member of the WNBA's Phoenix Mercury, is in her second season playing in China for Beijing Great Wall.

COLLEGE FOOTBALL

Florida State quarterback Jameis Winston faces a university discipinary hearing to be heard by a former Florida Supreme Court judge the week of Nov. 17.

The focus of the hearing is whether an alleged sexual assault involving Winston violated the student conduct code. The legal team representing the woman who made the allegation in December 2012 shared the date first with USA Today.

Winston was not charged in the incident because the State's Attorney's office, which launched a delayed investigation do to mishandling of the case by the police department, found inconclusive evidence that a violent crime took place after consulting witnesses and the victim. The investigators made the final conclusions without interviewing Winston.

Major Harding, a former Supreme Court judge in Florida, will conduct the investigative hearing.

---South Carolina lineman Na'Ty Rodgers was reinstated to the program after coach Steve Spurrier said the redshirt freshman had left the team and was pursuing a transfer.

Spurrier said Sunday that Rodgers struggled with adhere to team rules and they came to an agreement that he might be better off elsewhere. But after Rodgers talked with the coaches on Monday, they agreed that he would stay.

The 6-foot-5, 280-pound Rodgers has moved from the offensive line to the defensive line. He did not play against Kentucky in October after violating team rules and was not in uniform for Saturday's loss to Tennessee.

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