CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Dale Earnhardt Jr. was docked 100 points, and his crew chief was fined $100,000 and suspended for six races for an illegal part at Darlington Raceway.

The penalty, for illegal modifications to the rear wing on Earnhardt's Car of Tomorrow, is a significant setback in his team's bid to win a Cup title before racing's most popular driver leaves after the season.

Dale Earnhardt Inc. will appeal, team president Max Siegel said. Crew chief Tony Eury Jr., who is also Earnhardt's cousin, is expected to work Saturday night's All-Star race because suspensions do not begin until the appeals process is heard.

PHOENIX — The Phoenix Suns' chances of advancing to the Western Conference finals have taken a hit as nasty as the one Robert Horry gave Steve Nash.The NBA suspended Suns All-Star center Amare Stoudemire and his teammate Boris Diaw for Wednesday night's Game 5 of Phoenix's conference semifinal series against the San Antonio Spurs.

DALLAS — Dirk Nowitzki ended the two-year MVP reign of good friend Steve Nash, picking up the trophy for a great regular season dimmed by a postseason flop.Nowitzki led the Dallas Mavericks to 67 wins this season, matching the sixth most in league history.He received 1,138 points, including 83 of the 129 first-place votes.

The NCAA Division II Baseball Committee has given Slippery Rock University an at-large bid in the North Atlantic Regional Tournament.SRU (33-15) is seeded fourth in the six-team tournament andf will face third-seeded California of Pa. (36-15) at 4 p.m. Thursday at Kutztown University.Other first-round games are No. 2 seed West Virginia State (36-15) vs. No. 5 seed West Chester (30-15) and No. 1 seed Kutztown (45-5) vs. No. 6 seed Shippensburg (27-22).Winner of the double-elimination tourney advances to the Division II World Series.

The Seneca Valley, Mars and Knoch softball teams will all be in action on Monday in the WPIAL quarterfinals.<B>Class AAAA</B>Seneca Valley (17-1) will play Connellsville (7-11) at 6 p.m. at Fairhaven Park.<B>Class AAA</B>• Mars (11-8) will face Greensburg Salem (15-0-1) at 2 p.m. at Gateway High School.• Knoch (15-4) will draw the winner of the Elizabeth Forward/Laurel Highlands contest at 4 p.m. at Fairhaven Park.

The Union boys track 4x100 relay team of Ryan Bowser, Brogan Gearhart, Colby Davis and Josh Holden broke its own school record with a time of 44.5 seconds in a meet against Moniteau on Monday.The school's previous standard (44.7) was set by the same foursome in a win over Clarion-Limestone last week.