NASCAR Fines Stewart Over Altercation

Tony Stewart avoided suspension Wednesday when NASCAR fined him $50,000 and docked him championship points for his altercation with Brian Vickers.

Stewart lost 25 points in the Nextel Cup driver standings, car owner Joe Gibbs lost 25 points in the owner standings, and Stewart was put on probation until Aug. 18.

“This action we’ve taken speaks for itself,” NASCAR President Mike Helton said. “Tony Stewart is well aware of what is expected of him going forward.”

Stewart could have been suspended for Saturday night’s race at Daytona International Speedway for his latest infraction. But NASCAR declined to sideline him for a race, which saves the 2002 series champion’s bid for the Nextel Cup championship.

Vickers was knocked out of Sunday’s race at Sonoma, Calif., after contact from Stewart. After the race, Vickers said Stewart came up to his car window and confronted him.

Vickers said the two were discussing the on-track contact and Vickers began to laugh about it. He said that Stewart then reached for him inside the car and “knocked the breath out of me.”

Stewart, who was in fifth place in the Nextel standings and 307 points behind leader Jimmie Johnson, drops to sixth place after the penalty and is now 332 points back.

Olympics

Aquil Hashim Abdullah became the first black male rower to qualify for the U.S. Olympic squad, teaming with Navy officer Henry Gantt Nuzum to win double sculls at the Qualified Olympic Small Boat Trials in West Windsor, N.J.

Their victory in 6 minutes 23.59 seconds highlighted a morning in which all four races produced Olympic qualifiers, completing the small-boat roster for the U.S. team.

Artour Samsonov and Luke Walton won the men’s pair in 6:37.15, Kate MacKenzie and Sarah Jones won the women’s pair in 7:13.33 and Stacey Borgman and Lisa Schlenker won the lightweight women’s double sculls in 7:02.43. All four qualifiers won two consecutive races in the best-of-three finals.

Pro Basketball

Golden State center Erick Dampier opted out of his contract as expected and became a free agent.

The 29-year-old averaged 12.3 points and 12 rebounds while also blocking 1.85 shots in 32.5 minutes a game. He ranked fourth in the NBA in rebounding.

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Katie Smith scored six of her 23 points in overtime, and the Minnesota Lynx held on for a 58-50 victory over the Houston Comets in a WNBA game in front of 4,722 at Minneapolis.... Wendy Palmer had 13 points and eight rebounds to lead the Connecticut Sun to a 78-69 victory over the Washington Mystics in front of 6,069 at Uncasville, Conn.

College Baseball

Cal State Fullerton Coach George Horton defended his friend and mentor, dismissing criticism that Texas Coach Augie Garrido and his team were poor sports at the College World Series.

Garrido has been criticized by Texas fans and media this week for not sending his team out of the locker room to collect its second-place trophy after losing to the Titans, 3-2.

“We feel the Longhorns more than fulfilled their congratulatory responsibilities to our team,” Horton said in a statement released by Fullerton. “Coach Garrido and I shared a hug and shook hands, and he followed it up with telephone calls to the hotel to me and coaches [Dave] Serrano and [Rick] Vanderhook.”

Hockey

The Mighty Ducks picked up a two-year, $5.4-million club option on 34-year-old defenseman Keith Carney.

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Eric Lindros joined the free-agent market when the New York Rangers declined to pick up the $10.25-million option in the oft-injured center’s contract.... The Toronto Maple Leafs re-signed Ed Belfour, Joe Nieuwendyk, Gary Roberts, and Aki Berg. Belfour, Nieuwendyk and Roberts could have become unrestricted free agents.