Erik Jones to drive No. 43
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Erik Jones will drive NASCAR’s iconic No. 43 next season for Richard Petty Motorsports, a pairing of a driver and a team both in need of fresh starts. Joe Gibbs Racing announced in August that the 24-year-old Jones, after six seasons with the high- profile organization, would not be brought back in 2021. Meanwhile, Cup Series driver Bubba Wallace and RPM are splitting at the end of this season. “They still have something to prove, and I have something to prove,” Jones told The Associated Press. “We are both motivated to write a new chapter. It’s just a really clean slate, a chance to start from scratch and do something completely different.” Wallace, NASCAR’s only full-time Black driver, has been outspoken this season regarding racial inequality and injustice, and his recent prominence helped the driver sign millions of dollars in new sponsorship, but the funding will follow him next season when he moves to a new team formed by basketball legend Michael Jordan and JGR driver Denny Hamlin. The loss of Wallace could have crippled RPM, the cash-strapped team co-owned by NASCAR Hall of Famer Richard Petty. Instead, a volatile freeagent market helped RPM land Jones, still considered among the top young talent in NASCAR despite having just one Cup Series win to his credit.
FOOTBALL
› BATON ROUGE, La. — LSU has self- imposed penalties for NCAA rules violations by the football program that include a reduction of scholarships and a two-year ban from its athletic facilities for Cleveland Browns star and former Tigers receiver Odell Beckham Jr., according to a report by Sports Illustrated. LSU acknowledged it was working with the NCAA and had self-imposed penalties, but the university and its athletic program provided no other details. The NCAA is not required to accept self-imposed penalties and could add to LSU’s punishment. SI reported LSU was working with the NCAA on three separate potential football violations, including a Level III (considered minor) violation for Beckham handing out of about $2,000 worth of cash to players on the field after last year’s College Football Playoff national championship victory against Clemson in New Orleans. LSU and the NCAA have also been looking into a more serious violation stemming from a booster funneling $180,000 to the father of a former LSU football player for a no-show job from 2012 to 2017. Those allegations came to light during a federal case against an LSU booster, who pleaded guilty to stealing $550,000 from a Baton Rouge- based charity. LSU self- imposed a reduction of eight football scholarships over two years for the Level I football violation, reported SI, which also reported that LSU was self- imposing recruiting restrictions on current football coach Ed Orgeron for a Level III violation of impermissible contact with a recruit.
GOLF ›
THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. — Adam Scott withdrew from the Zozo Championship at Sherwood Country Club on Wednesday after testing positive for COVID-19, becoming the second high-profile golfer in as many weeks to do so. Dustin Johnson, No. 1 in the Official World Golf Ranking, tested positive last week ahead of the CJ Cup at Shadow Creek in the Las Vegas area. Scott, a 40-year- old Australian whose 14 PGA Tour wins include the 2013 Masters, has not played since the U.S. Open, and he has played only four times — at the PGA Championship, the U. S. Open and in two events in the FedEx Cup playoffs to cap the 2019-20 schedule — in the four months since competition resumed after shutting down because of the pandemic. The 15th-ranked Scott is the third player from the top 20 who has tested positive in the past three weeks, with Johnson and Tony Finau the others. Scott was replaced in the 78- man field at Sherwood by Jim Herman, who won the Wyndham Championship in August to make the playoffs in the regular-season finale.