Hamlin wins NASCAR pole
Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch swept the front row in qualifying Friday for Sunday’s NASCAR Consumers Energy 400 in Brooklyn, Mich.
Kevin Harvick, neck-and-neck with Busch all season, was right behind in third.
Hamlin went 202.794 mph in Friday’s session to win a pole for the second consecutive week. The Joe Gibbs Racing veteran is winless this season, while teammate Busch has six victories and Erik Jones has one.
His No. 11 team has clearly hit on something these last two weeks and Hamlin, a two-time Michigan winner, was fastest in all three rounds of qualifying and Friday’s first practice. He wants to continue his streak of at least one victory a year every season since his 2006 rookie year.
Busch made it an all-Toyota front row for the race with a lap at 202.731 mph. Harvick, in a Ford for Stewart-Haas Racing, went 202.100.
Eau Claire’s Paul Menard will start 14th.
SOFTBALL
Monica Abbott had 18 strikeouts and the United States defeated Australia, 3-1, on Friday in the playoffs of the women’s world softball championship in Makuhari, Japan.
Abbott gave up a game-tying solo home run to Stacey Porter in the fourth inning but was solid the rest of the way, facing only seven hitters in the last two innings.
The winner of the tournament will be awarded an Olympic spot. If Japan wins, the second-place finisher will be granted the Olympic spot because Japan has an automatic berth as host.
SWIMMING
After two years, Cate Campbell can finally forget about the heartbreak of the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics.
The Australian swimmer bombed in Rio, failing to win an individual gold medal. She collapsed in the 100-meter freestyle final when she was the favorite to win and finished a distant sixth. That prompted her to take a reflective year off from competitive swimming.
It seems to have paid off at the Pan Pacific Championships in Tokyo, the biggest meet of the year for swimmers from the Pacific Rim region and a dress rehearsal for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
Campbell won the 100 in 52.03 seconds, the second fastest time ever in the event. She also beat Rio gold medalist Simone Manuel of the United States, who finished second in 52.66.
CYCLING
Former Tour de France champion Jan Ullrich was arrested early Friday and is being investigated for attempted manslaughter after allegedly attacking an escort at a Frankfurt hotel.
“It seems Mr. Ullrich and an escort woman had a dispute and that he attacked her,” Frankfurt police spokesperson Carina Lerch said.
Lerch said the retired German cyclist was under the influence of drugs and alcohol. Later, a police statement said Ullrich had resisted arrest.
TENNIS
U.S. Open champion Sloane Stephens romped into the Rogers Cup semifinals, beating Latvia’s Anastasija Sevastova, 6-2, 6-2, in Montreal.
Top-seeded Simona Halep advanced with a 7-5, 6-1 victory over sixth-seeded Caroline Garcia