Off the wire

LITTLE ROCK — MOTOR SPORTS

Kenseth to leave team

NASCAR points leader Matt Kenseth, one of the longest-tenured drivers in the series, is leaving Roush Fenway Racing at the end of the season. He will be replaced in the No. 17 Ford - the car he has driven for all but one of his 452 career starts - by Nationwide Series champion Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Kenseth’s long relationship with Ford will apparently come to an end. He is believed to be headed to Joe Gibbs Racing, either in Joey Logano’s No. 20 Toyota or a fourth unannounced team. Kenseth did not respond to a request for comment Tuesday but tweeted about his departure. “I’m very thankful to Jack Roush for the opportunities he’s given me over the past 14 years. Together we have enjoyed a lot of success,” he posted. “And as a team we are committed as ever to the remainder of the 2012 season and chasing a 3rd sprint cup title for Jack and RFR.” Kenseth has won 22 Cup races overall, and the 2003 championship. In the Nationwide Series, Kenseth has won 26races driving for Roush.

BASKETBALL

Stoudemire fined $50K

Amare Stoudemire has been fined $50,000 by the NBA after the New York Knicks star tweeted a gay slur. Stu Jackson, the league’s executive vice president of basketball operations, announced the fine Tuesday in a release, calling Stoudemire’s language offensive and derogatory. Stoudemire apologized Sunday to a fan for using the slur in response to a tweet in which the fan admonished the All-Star to “make up for this past season.” Stoudemire also issued an apology in a statement Tuesday.

David Morway has resigned as general manager of the Indiana Pacers. Morway was hired by the Pacers in 1999 and had been GM since 2008. The Indianapolis Star reported Tuesday that Larry Bird is expected to leave the Pacers, toociting an unidentified person with direct knowledge of the situation. The Pacers and owner Herb Simon declined comment. The 55-year-old Bird was the Pacers coach from 1997-2000, returning to the front office in 2003. He took over fromDonnie Walsh in 2008 as president of basketball operations and was this season’s NBA’s Executive of the Year after building a tough, young team that lost to eventual champion Miami.

FOOTBALL

Texas A&M suspends 2

Texas A&M Coach Kevin Sumlin has suspended linebacker Steven Jenkins and defensive back Howard Matthews one game each for violating team policy. Jenkins is a junior who appeared in 13 games with six starts last season for the Aggies. He had 61 tackles, including three for losses. Matthews, a sophomore, also appeared in 13 games last season and had two starts. He finished with 28 tackles, including three for losses, and had a forced fumble. The Aggies, who are moving from the Big 12 to the SEC, open the season Aug. 30 againstLouisiana Tech.

BASEBALL

Buchholz has esophagitis

Boston Red Sox right-hander Clay Buchholz experienced erosion of his esophagus, and the condition caused internal bleeding. The Red Sox say Buchholz has been evaluated at Massachusetts General Hospital, where he remained Tuesday night as Boston hosted the Toronto Blue Jays. The team said he is doing well and is expected to make a complete recovery. Buchholz was placed on the 15-day disabled list Sunday with what the team described as a stomach illness. The Red Sox announced in a release Tuesday that he has esophagitis, which led to the erosion of his esophagus and an associated gastrointestinal bleeding.

The Texas Rangers have placed right-hander Colby Lewis on the15-day disabled list because of tendinitis in his forearm. The move is retroactive to Sunday. Lewis, 32, is 6-6 with a 3.51 ERA in 15 starts this season since making the team’s opening-day start. In his last outing, Lewis gave up 12 hits and 8 runs, 7 of them earned, in just 4 innings. He holds the lowest rate of walksper-nine-innings this season at 1.08 and the best strikeout-to-walk ratio with 7.50.

The Houston Astros have placed outfielder Justin Maxwell on the 15-day disabled list with an injured left ankle. Maxwell, who hasn’t been in the lineup since Wednesday because of the injury, will undergo arthroscopic surgery to remove loose bodies from his ankle. He is expected to be out 4 to 6 weeks. Maxwell has 8 home runs and 24 RBI in 61 games this season. His three pinch-hit home runs are the most in the majors.

HOCKEY

Capitals hire Oates

More than a decade after Adam Oates followed Dale Hunter as captain of the Washington Capitals, a similar transition happened Tuesday when Oates was hired as the Capitals coach. Oates joined Washington six weeks after Hunter’s abrupt resignation after leading the team to the second round of the playoffs as a midseason replacement. Oates, 49, played 19 seasons as a center in the NHL, including parts of six seasons with the Capitals from 1996-2002. He and Hunter were part of the 1997-98 team that made the only Stanley Cup final appearance to date in franchise history. Oates, who will be formally introduced at a news conference today, has spent the past three seasons as an NHL assistant, first with the Tampa Bay Lightning before moving to the New Jersey Devils in 2010. He was part of the staff that helped lead the Devils to this year’s Stanley Cup final, which they lost to the Los Angeles Kings.

Twelve-time All-Star Joe Sakic was elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame on Tuesday in his first year of eligibility, joining Mats Sundin, Pavel Bure and Adam Oates as the newest class of inductees. The four former NHL stars were chosen by the Hall’s 18-member selection committee. The induction ceremony will be Nov. 12.

COLLEGE FOOTBALL Sandusky’s son talks of sex abuse

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. - Jerry Sandusky’s son told police he was sexually abused startingwhen he was 8, a decade before the former Penn State assistant football coach adopted him, according to a police interview recording obtained by NBC News.

Matt Sandusky, who was adopted by Jerry Sandusky as an adult, described for investigators showering with the ex-coach and trying toavoid being groped in bed. He also said he was undergoing therapy, that his memories of abuse were only now surfacing and that he was coming forward so his family would know what happened.

“If you were pretending you were asleep and you were touched or rubbed in some way you could just act like you were rolling over in your sleep, so that you could change positions,” the now 33-year-old Matt Sandusky said in an excerpt played Tuesday on NBC’s Today.

His attorneys confirmed therecording’s authenticity to The Associated Press.

“Although the tape was released without Matt’s knowledge or permission, it illustrates that he made the difficult decision to come forward and tell the painful truth to investigators despite extraordinary pressure to support his father,” lawyers Justine Andronici and Andrew Shubin wrote in a statement.

The same lawyers issued a statement Thursday saying Matt Sandusky had been abused and had spoken to investigators during his father’s trial. The next day, Jerry Sandusky was convicted on 45 criminal counts stemming from the abuse of 10 boys, all of whom he met through his charity for at-risk youth, The Second Mile.

Matt Sandusky met the man who would eventually adopt him through the same organization.

Jerry Sandusky, 68, who has five other adopted children, hasn’t been charged with abusing his son.