Off the wire

FOOTBALL Title game site named

The first championship game in the College Football Playoff will be held at Cowboys Stadium. The BCS conference commissioners announced Wednesday that Arlington, Texas, edged Tampa, Fla., in the bidding to be the site of the first title game in the new playoff system. “The stadium itself was the biggest determiner,” BCS Executive Director Bill Hancock said about the $1.2 billion dollar, state-of-the art home of the NFL’s Cowboys and the Cotton Bowl. “It’s still the stadium with a capital ‘T.’” The game will be held Jan. 12, 2015. The final three sites for the semifinal rotation also were announced and Cowboys Stadium came up a winner again.The Cotton Bowl will be part of the six-bowl rotation, along with the Chick-fil-A Bowl in Atlanta and the Fiesta Bowl in Glendale, Ariz. The Holiday Bowl in San Diego also bid for a spot in the semifinal rotation. The Rose, Orange and Sugar bowls are already part of the semifinal rotation. The Rose and Sugar will host the first semifinals Jan. 1, 2015, The next season, the Cotton and Orange bowls will host the semifinals on New Year’s Eve. The semis will be played in the Fiesta and Chick-fil-A bowls after the 2016 season.

Florida guard Jessamen Dunker, suspended since allegedly stealing a scooter in January, has decided to transfer. Coach Will Muschamp made the announcement Wednesday, saying Dunker “felt like he needed a fresh start.” Dunker, a redshirt freshman from Boynton Beach, Fla., was one of the top offensive line recruits in the country when he signed with the Gators in 2012. But he didn’t play as a freshman and then found himself in trouble shortly after the season. He was arrested Jan. 16, charged with grand theft and suspended. Dunker’s attorney says his client didn’t know the scooter was stolen. The case is pending.

MOTOR SPORTS

Hamlin not cleared to race

Denny Hamlin hasn’t been cleared to race at his home track in Richmond, Va., as he had hoped. Hamlin sustained a compression fracture of a vertebra in his lower back in a last-lap accident at Fontana, Calif., on March 24. Doctors said he’d miss at least five races, although Hamlin hoped to return early to race at Richmond, where he’s a two-time winner. But Hamlin wasn’t cleared Wednesday to race after visits to Dr. Jerry Petty of Carolina Neurosurgery and Spine Associates, and apparently consultations with others. “Unfortunately I won’t be racing this weekend at Richmond,” he posted on Twitter. “It kills me to not be in the car for my team and sponsors, but after long discussions with the doctors we have decided to wait on my return back to racing.”

NASCAR’s two fastest tracks are reinforcing crossover gates in the wake of the Feb. 23 accident at Daytona International Speedway that injured nearly 30 spectators. Daytona and Talladega Superspeedway announced Wednesday that the high banked tracks are installing additional cables at the crossover gates, which allow fans to move between the grandstands and the infield before and after races. The tracks also are adding supplemental tethers between the gate frame and support posts. “We’re pleased with the solution that we’re implementing for Talladega and Daytona, but fan safety is an ongoing process and we’re going to continue to look at the fan experience across all our venues for future improvement as we continue through,” Daytona President Joie Chitwood said. One of the eight gates at Daytona was where rookie Kyle Larson crashed on the final lap of the second-tier race the day before the Daytona 500. Larson’s car went airborne, slammed into the fence and spewed debris into the stands. Larson was unharmed. Dozens of fans were taken to hospitals for treatment, including one who was hit by a tire.

HORSE RACING

Storm Cat euthanized at 30

Storm Cat, the thoroughbred stallion who once commanded one of the highest breeding fees in North America, died Wednesday at Overbrook Farm in Lexington. He was 30. Ric Waldman, manager of Storm Cat’s stud career, said the horse was euthanized due to complications from old age. Waldman said Storm Cat appeared to have cancer, but tests were not performed because they could have caused him pain. Storm Cat was buried at Overbrook Farm, where he lived after his retirement from stud duty in 2008. Storm Cat made only eight starts over two years, winning four times, but he became one of the world’s leading sires and had a profound influence on the thoroughbred breed. He had produced at least 160 stakes winners who combined to top $127 million. Among his offspring were 91 yearlings who sold for more than $1 million. When Storm Cat retired from racing in 1987, his stud fee was $30,000, Overbrook Farm announced in a news release. During his 20-year stud career, his fee at one point rose to $500,000, according to the news release.

MOTOR SPORTS

Kenseth keeps victory, docked 50 points

CHARLOTTE, N.C. - NASCAR has a zero tolerance policy when it comes to engines, tires and fuel on a race car. Anything even slightly improper is dealt with swiftly and severely. NASCAR always throws the book at offenders.

Matt Kenseth and Joe Gibbs Racing were no exception, getting hit with one of the largest penalties in NASCAR history Wednesday after the engine from Kenseth’s race-winning car at Kansas failed a post-race inspection. The team had nothing to do with the error, and manufacturer Toyota immediately accepted responsibility for one of eight connecting rods failing to meet the minimum weight requirement by 3 grams - less than an empty envelope.

“We take full responsibility for this issue with the engine. JGR is not involved in the process of selecting parts or assembling the Cup Series engines,” Toyota Racing Development President Lee White said.

It’s been a busy season for NASCAR discipline. In February, Nationwide Series driver Jeremy Clements was suspended after an apparently insensitive remark to an MTV blogger and Denny Hamlin was fined $25,000 for criticizing the new Gen-6 race car.

But in the past week NASCAR has levied more than $450,000 in fines, suspended nearly a dozen crew members for upcoming points races, and knocked some of the top drivers in its series out of the top five as it punishes teams for rules violations involving the cars themselves.

Kenseth was stripped of everything but the trophy from Sunday’s victory at Kansas.

He was docked 50 driver points in the standings - he earned only 48 points for the victory - and NASCAR erased the three bonus points he earned for the victory that would have been applied in seeding for the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship. In addition, the victory will not be credited toward his eligibility for a wild-card berth in the Chase.

So, although Kenseth has two victories on the year, the Kansas victory does not count in any form toward Chase eligibility. He lost his pole award, too, which could hurt eligibility for next year’s Sprint Unlimited exhibition race.

The penalty to Kenseth, who held off Kasey Kahne of Hendrick Motorsports to earn his second victory of the season, dropped him from eighth to 14th in the standings.

NASCAR also suspended crew chief Jason Ratcliff for six races and fined him $200,000. In a rare move, car owner Joe Gibbs also had his owner’s license suspended for the next six races and he won’t earn car owner points during that time. He also was docked 50 car owner points while Toyota, which supplies the JGR engines through Costa Mesa, Calif.-based TRD, lost five points in the manufacturer standings.

JGR said it would appeal.

Sports, Pages 18 on 04/25/2013

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