NASCAR PUNISHES GIBBS, HENDRICK, AMONG OTHERS
FLA.» NASCAR suspended DAYTONA BEACH, a slew of crew chiefs Wednesday for violations that included Denny Hamlin’s winning cars in his weekend sweep at Darlington, as well as loose lug nuts on Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s car.
Hamlin won both the Cup and Xfinity races in South Carolina, but NASCAR ruled that his cars violated rear suspension rules. Cup crew chief Mike Wheeler was suspended two races, fined $50,000 and Hamlin was stripped of five playoff points. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver will still make NASCAR’s playoff field, but he will likely be without Wheeler for at least one race.
Should Wheeler sit out Saturday night’s regular-season finale at Richmond, he would only miss the next week’s playoff opener at Chicago.
Earnhardt crew chief Greg Ives was suspended one race and fined $20,000 for two loose lug nuts found after the Cup race. Hendrick Motorsports said Travis Mack will replace Ives, who will not be able to crew chief Earnhardt in the driver’s final attempt to qualify for the playoffs.
Earnhardt needs to win at Richmond on Saturday to make the playoffs. He’s retiring at the end of the season and is 22nd in points.
Mack has been Earnhardt’s car chief since 2015 under Ives and had worked as a mechanic at Hendrick since 2004. He won a championship with Chase Elliott as the car chief at JR Motorsports’ Xfinity team from 2013-14.
Radio host arrested for fraud.
Sports radio personality Craig Carton was released on bond after his New York arrest on fraud charges alleging he and others used a Ponzi scheme and a concert ticket-selling scam for acts including Katy Perry to try to raise millions of dollars to pay off gambling debts.
Federal prosecutors say Carton teamed up with an Upper Saddle River, N.J., man to carry out a fraud on investors by posing as power brokers in the concert ticket business.
Each man was released on $500,000 bond at a Wednesday hearing. The men’s lawyers declined to speak afterward to reporters.
Carton is a host of WFAN’s “Boomer and Carton” show with former NFL quarterback Boomer Esiason.
Pacers owner denies report.
Indiana Pacers owner Herb Simon is denying a report that the team might sue the Los Angeles Lakers for tampering with Paul George.
The NBA fined the Lakers $500,000 last week for violating league rules and there was a report that the Pacers were considering legal action, too.
In a statement, Simon said the Pacers agreed with the league’s decision and that the team simply wanted to move on.
Mystics top Wings in WNBA playoffs.
Elena Delle Donne had 25 points and 11 rebounds, Emma Meesseman added 16 points and 10 boards, and the Washington Mystics beat the Dallas Wings 86-76 in the first round of the playoffs.
Harrison scores ninth goal as NYC FC beats Sporting KC.
Jack Harrison scored his ninth goal of the season in the 84th minute, helping New York City FC beat Sporting Kansas City 1-0.
New York City (15-7-5) is 8-0-2 in its last 10 home games. Kansas City (10-6-10) has only won once in its last 10 regular-season road games.
Footnotes.
Colorado State freshman forward Ally Murphy-Pauletto was voted the NCAA soccer women’s player of the week. This marks the second accolade of the week for the freshman, who was named Mountain West women’s soccer offensive player of the week Monday. Murphy-Pauletto, a freshman from Boulder, is the first Ram in CSU’s five-year soccer history to win each award. … Michelle Wie withdrew from The Evian Championship as she recovers from surgery to remove her appendix.