LARSON CLAIMS POLE, EDGING DENNY HAMLIN
FONTANA — Kyle Larson turned a lap in 38.493 seconds Friday to claim the pole for the NASCAR race at Fontana.
Denny Hamlin clocked in at 38.507 seconds to earn the fifth front-row start of his career at Auto Club Speedway. Brad Keselowski was third, and Martin Truex Jr. was fourth.
Larson has finished second in three consecutive races, and he kept up his early-season surge with an impressive performance in his home state. He finished second at Fontana in 2014 in just his ninth career Cup race.
HOCKEY Cracknell gets 1st hat trick, Stars beat reeling Sharks 61
DALLAS — Adam Cracknell got his first hat trick in seven NHL seasons and the Dallas Stars handed the San Jose Sharks their fifth straight loss, 6-1 on Friday night.
Cracknell opened the scoring in the first period, capped a three-goal flurry in the second and beat goalie Aaron Dell on a short-handed breakaway in the third for his career-high 10th goal of the season.
The Sharks entered two points ahead of Anaheim and Edmonton in the Pacific Division despite their longest losing streak of the season. San Jose has been outscored 16-5 during the stretch.
Brett Ritchie, Jamie Benn and John Klingberg also scored for the Stars.
Joe Thornton scored for San Jose on the power play in the second period. Dell had 23 saves.
Dallas’ Kari Lehtonen made 20 saves four nights after shutting out San Jose.
GOLF A day of dominance and survival at Match Play
AUSTIN, Texas — Dustin Johnson and Phil Mickelson showed the simple side to the Dell Technologies Match Play. For three straight days in warmth, wind or rain, they built early leads and never let anyone get close to them in advancing out of their groups to the knockout stage.
For just about everyone else, it was a matter of surviving.
Bill Haas delivered another amazing escape when he chipped in from 120 feet to save par and extend a sudden-death playoff that he eventually won in six holes.
Marc Leishman made it to the round of 16 by playing two holes on Friday. He was awarded a victory because Jason Day withdrew on Wednesday, got a reprieve when Lee Westwood beat Pat Perez to force a threeman playoff, and beat Westwood on the second hole with a 12-foot birdie.
“Pat was either going to beat Lee and I was flying home tomorrow morning, or I was going to get to play golf and try to advance,” Leishman said. “I got the latter and advance. So it was a great day.”
SOCCER Dempsey hat trick lifts US over Honduras to rebound
SAN JOSE — Bruce Arena’s return as U.S. coach reignited American confidence, and his players responded with an emphatic rebound in World Cup qualifying.
Clint Dempsey returned from an irregular heartbeat to score his second international hat trick, 18-year-old phenom Christian Pulisic had one goal and set up three others, and the U.S. routed Honduras 6-0 Friday night to get right back in contention for an eighth straight World Cup berth.
Surprise starter Sebastian Lletget got his first international goal in the fifth minute after Pulisic’s shot deflected off the goalkeeper, Michael Bradley doubled the lead in the 27th and Dempsey scored off Pulisic’s perfectly weighted chip in the 32nd.
Finding room to maneuver in a central midfield role, Pulisic made it 4-0 just 12 seconds into the second half with his fourth international goal, Dempsey rounded the keeper to score following a Pulisic feed in the 49th, and Dempsey got another on a 23-yard free kick in the 54th. With 55 international goals, Dempsey moved within two of Landon Donovan’s American record.