Fast Break

Baseball

Griffey No. 5 on HR list

White Sox slugger Ken Griffey Jr. hit career homer No. 609 against the Seattle Mariners on Wednesday in Chicago, tying Sammy Sosa for fifth on the career list with a two-run shot against his former team.

Griffey connected against knuckleballer R.A. Dickey in the second inning for his first homer since Chicago acquired him from Cincinnati on July 31. The drive made it 8-0.

Griffey spent his first 11 seasons with the Mariners, hitting .299 with 398 homers and 1,152 RBIs from 1989-99, before being traded to Cincinnati.

NASCAR

Gibbs team takes a hit

NASCAR and Joe Gibbs Racing both lowered the penalty boom on seven members of that team after magnetic shims, designed to compromise a chassis dynamometer test, were found on the No. 18 and No. 20 Toyotas following Saturday’s Nationwide race at Michigan International Speedway.

NASCAR suspended the crew chiefs, car chiefs and engine tuners on each team as well as a fourth crew member from the No. 18 team indefinitely.

In a statement issued after NASCAR announced its penalties, team owner Joe Gibbs said the team had decided to add to any NASCAR penalties “with the minimum being suspension for the remainder of the season for those involved, including our two Nationwide Series crew chiefs.”

NASCAR fined Jason Ratcliff and Dave Rogers $50,000 each and took 150 driver points from Joey Logano, who drove the No. 18, and Tony Stewart, who drove the No. 20. Each team also lost 150 car owner points, cutting the No. 20 team’s lead in the owner standings to 168 points over Clint Bowyer’s No. 2 team at Richard Childress Racing.

The entire teams, including both drivers, were also placed on NASCAR probation until Dec. 31. Gibbs said he was disappointed the drivers were put on probation “as they had no knowledge or involvement of this incident.”