Vickers may replace Stewart
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Brian Vickers is expected to replace injured driver Tony Stewart for the NASCAR season opener at Daytona International Speedway, The Associated Press has learned. Stewart-Haas Racing has scheduled a Friday news conference to discuss its plans for the No. 14 Chevrolet. A person familiar with the situation told AP on Wednesday that it will be Vickers. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the team is awaiting word from NASCAR on whether Vickers is medically cleared to race. Vickers ran only two races last season before suffering a recurrence of blood clots. Stewart is sidelined for the start of his final NASCAR season with a fractured vertebra. He was hurt riding an all-terrain vehicle in the desert in California last week.
BASKETBALL
› Five weeks until Selection Sunday. This NCAA tournament is setting up to be a good one. Just ask the man who’s running the show. “We have had six No. 1 teams already. It is deeper at the top,” Oklahoma athletic director and Selection Committee chairman Joe Castiglione said Wednesday. The committee is meeting in Indianapolis, kind of a refresher course for the veterans and a chance for new members — Ohio University athletic director Jim Schaus and Duke athletic director Kevin White — to get a chance to see the process in action. “We have been meeting, and tomorrow morning, after we have evaluated all 336 eligible schools, we will conduct a mock draft before we adjourn,” Castiglione said.
› CHAPEL HILL, N. C. — North Carolina’s long- running academic fraud scandal case seems stuck in procedural limbo. The NCAA charged the school in May with five violations, including lack of institutional control, but there has been little movement since. The NCAA is reviewing information reported by UNC in August and could amend the Notice of Allegations used to specify violations. Until then, the case — an offshoot of a review launched nearly six years ago — can’t advance toward resolution. “It’s very taxing on a lot of people for a variety of reasons,” athletic director Bubba Cunningham said in an interview with The Associated Press. “It’s been used against us in recruiting. It has been damaging to the reputation of the university.
› NEW YORK — Lisa Borders has been a fan of the WNBA ever since she helped bring a team to Atlanta. Now she’s the league’s new president. The WNBA announced the move Wednesday, three months after former president Laurel J. Richie stepped down. “I have been more than a fan. I led the effort to bring this team to Atlanta,” said Borders, who describes herself as a raving fan. “I’ve been a season ticket holder ever since. I sit in the Hollywood seats, usually have lost my voice by the end of the game.” Borders said she was approached about the opening by NBA commissioner Adam Silver at a Duke Board of Trustees meeting in December. Both are graduates of the school and serve together on the board.
TRACK AND FIELD
› EMBU, Kenya — Two Kenyan athletes serving four-year bans for doping at the 2015 world championships said the chief executive of Athletics Kenya asked them each for a $24,000 bribe to reduce their suspensions. Joy Sakari and Francisca Koki Manunga told The AP that CEO Isaac Mwangi asked for the payment in an Oct. 16 meeting, but that they could not raise the money. They were informed of their four-year bans in a Nov. 27 email, but never filed a criminal complaint because, they said, they had no proof to back up their bribery accusation and also feared repercussions. Mwangi dismissed the allegation as “just a joke” and denied ever meeting privately with the athletes.