Bodine Put on Probation

Todd Bodine was put on probation by NASCAR on Wednesday for careless driving that triggered a multicar accident at Lowe’s Motor Speedway.

Bodine is on probation until Dec. 31. If there is another action this season that NASCAR officials deem detrimental or disruptive to a race, he will receive an indefinite suspension.

“We’ve noticed numerous on-track incidents involving Todd, and we felt this was the proper step to take at this time,” Winston Cup Director John Darby said.

Bodine was criticized heavily for his role in the wreck in the UAW-GM Quality 500 on Sunday.

He made a move to the inside of Ward Burton and Jeff Green, who already were running side by side down the frontstretch, but Bodine’s left-side tires touched the infield grass and his car went out of control.

Bodine hit Burton, who hit Green, and soon about 10 more cars -- including all three from Richard Childress Racing -- were involved.

“Todd does something stupid every week,” Childress said after the wreck.

Also penalized Wednesday was Tommy Baldwin, fined $25,000 because his Busch series car driven by Wally Dallenbach did not meet the minimum height requirement after the Lowe’s 300 on Saturday.

Golf

Tiger Woods said the best way to resolve the membership debate at Augusta National is to hash it out in private.

“There’s no substitute for looking someone in the eye,” he said.

Woods said he would like to see a female member at Augusta, but that private clubs have a right to set their own policies.

“Hootie [Johnson] is right, and Martha [Burk]is right. That’s the problem,” Woods said of the Augusta chairman and the head of the National Council of Women’s Organizations after a practice round for the Disney World Golf Classic at Lake Buena Vista, Fla.

Tennis

Top-seeded Jennifer Capriati lost to Conchita Martinez, 6-0, 6-3, in the second round of the Swisscom Challenge at Zurich, Switzerland. Defending champion Lindsay Davenport reached the quarterfinals by defeating Tatiana Panova, 6-2, 6-2....Andre Agassi beat qualifier Jan-Michael Gambill, 6-4, 6-4, in the third round of the Madrid Masters. Tenth-seeded Andy Roddick lost to unseeded Mikhail Youzhny, 6-3. 6-4.

Cecil Mamiit, a former NCAA singles champion from USC, lost to Bjorn Rehnquist of Sweden, 6-2, 4-6, 6-4, in the second round of the $25,000 USTA Challenger of Burbank. Other winners included Americans Justin Gimelstob and Robby Ginepri. Michael Chang faces Zack Fleishman in a second-round match today.

Olympics

British skier Alain Baxter failed in his bid to reclaim the men’s slalom bronze medal taken away at the Salt Lake City Olympics in February after he tested positive for a banned substance.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport rejected Baxter’s appeal.

Passings

Longtime sports producer Jim Pells, 50, died of complications after heart surgery Tuesday night at Valley Presbyterian Hospital in Van Nuys. Among his many duties was producing the “Sports Roundtable” shows for Fox Sports Net 2. He also served as Chick Hearn’s statistician at Laker games the past 20 years.

Pells is survived by his wife Karen and two children, J.T. and Drew. Funeral services are Monday at 11 a.m. at Eden Memorial Park in Northridge.