Sports in Brief: Crews, not drivers, punished after Texas brawl

Brad Keselowski and Jeff Gordon avoided any penalty from NASCAR on Tuesday for their fight after the Sprint Cup AAA Texas 500 at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth.

Two crew chiefs and four crew members from Hendrick Motorsports were punished for their roles in the brawl Sunday.

NASCAR suspended three Hendrick crew members for six races for being "involved in a postrace physical altercation" and fined them each $25,000. A fourth Hendrick crew member was fined $10,000 and suspended for three races for the same offense.

Gordon crew chief Alan Gustafson and Kasey Kahne crew chief Kenny Francis were fined $50,000 each and placed on probation for six races because "the crew chief assumes responsibility for the actions of his team members."

Suspended for six races and fined $25,000 were: Jeremy Fuller, the Kahne crew member who came from behind the scrum and threw several haymakers toward Keselowski; and Gordon crew members Dwayne Doucette and Jason Ingle. Dean Mozingo, another Gordon crew member, was fined $10,000 and suspended for three races.

Hendrick Motorsports said it would not appeal. Team owner Rick Hendrick said in a statement that the new Chase for the Sprint Cup championship format has brought "an unprecedented level of intensity every single week."

COLLEGES Temple senior point guard Will Cummings was added to the Bob Cousy Collegiate Point Guard of the Year watch list announced by the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. Last week, he was named to the preseason second-team American Athletic Conference team. He is the Owls' top returning scorer.

Tennessee quarterback Justin Worley will miss the remainder of the season because of a right shoulder injury.

WNBA The agent for Brittney Griner told the Associated Press that the 6-foot-8 basketball star was cut by a man in a knife attack in China but did not need to go to the hospital. Agent Lindsay Kagawa Colas said that Griner suffered a small cut when the man swiped at her elbow as her team was boarding a bus after practice. The Phoenix Mercury star plays for the Beijing Great Wall during the WNBA offseason.

SOCCER A January trial date has been set in Washington state for U.S. national women's soccer team goalkeeper Hope Solo on misdemeanor domestic-violence charges. The Seattle Times reported that Kirkland Municipal Court Judge Michael Lambo set Solo's next court hearing for Jan. 6, with the trial to begin Jan. 20. Solo, 32, is charged with two counts of fourth-degree domestic-violence assault stemming from a June 21 altercation with her sister and 17-year-old nephew at a family gathering. She has pleaded not guilty.

Real Madrid beat Liverpool, 1-0, on Karim Benzema's 27th-minute goal to advance to the knockout phase of the Champions League with Borussia Dortmund. Arsenal wasted a three-goal lead at home in a 3-3 tie with Anderlecht.

HORSE RACING A victory by German stallion Protectionist in the Melbourne Cup was overshadowed by the deaths of two horses after Australia's richest horse race.

Five-year-old Protectionist won the two-mile test by four lengths in only his 10th race. Seven-year-old favorite Admire Rakti finished a distant last, then collapsed and died after returning to the stalls. Seventh-place Araldo suffered a broken leg on the way back to the stalls and had to be euthanized.
- Staff and wire reports