TRUEX POLESITTER FOR NASCAR RACE
ARIZ.» Martin Truex Jr. of AVONDALE,
Denver-based Furniture Row Racing won the pole for the NASCAR Cup Series race Sunday at ISM Raceway.
The defending series champion turned a lap at 136.945 mph in his No. 78 Toyota on Friday in the last of three rounds of qualifying on the mile oval. He has 16 poles in his career.
“It was a good run — we worked really hard coming here, knowing what we’ve done here in the past,” Truex said. “We’ve run well, but we never could quite get it just right to go for the pole. I think we were fifth (in qualifying) here last fall.”
Kyle Larson took the second slot at 136.643 mph for Chip Ganassi Racing after topping the second session.
Chase Elliott was third, followed by Tucson driver Alex Bowman, Joey Logano, Denny Hamlin, Kyle Busch, Jamie McMurray, Erik Jones and Kevin Harvick. Harvick has a trackrecord eight victories and is coming off wins the last two weeks, at Atlanta and Las Vegas.
Serena’s return successful.
CALIF.» Serena Williams’ power WELLS, game is intact, whether she’s firing aces or smashing groundstrokes. Her grit is there too.
Her timing may be a little off, and the unforced errors are a clue that she has been away for 14 months.
All in all, the 23-time major winner is glad to be back on the job with a new husband and 6-month-old baby.
Williams began her latest comeback with a 7-5, 6-3 sweep of Zarina Diyas of Kazakhstan in the first round of the BNP Paribas Open on Thursday night.
“I’m not where I want to be, but I’m getting there,” Williams said. “Every day is going to be a challenge for me, but I know I’ll overcome it.”
Away since winning the 2017 Australian Open early in her pregnancy, Williams gave birth to Alexis Olympia Ohanian Jr. in September and married Alexis Ohanian in November.
Brown suspends swimming team.
R.I.» Brown University PROVIDENCE, announced that it suspended its men’s swimming and diving team after an investigation found violations of alcohol and hazing policies.
In a news release issued Friday, Brown said members of the team will be suspended as a student organization through May 27, and any team activity is prohibited by Brown.
Facebook to stream MLB; Twitter has MLS.
Facebook is getting deeper into the professional sports streaming game, partnering with Major League Baseball to air 25 weekday afternoon games in an exclusive deal.
Twitter, meanwhile, announced that it will stream a Major League Soccer match each weekend as part of a three-year contract.
The baseball games will be available to Facebook users in the U.S. on Facebook Watch, the company’s video feature announced last August, via the MLB Live show page. Facebook said recorded telecasts also will be made available globally, excluding select international markets.
The package, MLB’s first digitalonly national broadcast agreement, precludes teams from televising those games on their regional sports networks. Facebook’s selection will come from among the nine games per season teams can lose from their local telecasts to national video partners, which include Fox and ESPN.
MLB team owners approved the deal in a telephone meeting this week. MLB will receive $30 million to $35 million, a person familiar with the agreement told The Associated Press. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the amount wasn’t publicly released.
As for MLS, Twitter’s 24 live telecasts will take the video from Univision’s national Spanish-language telecast and use English-language commentary via SAP.
The streams will be available in the local markets of the competing teams.
Twitter’s MLS schedule starts with Los Angeles FC’s match Saturday at Real Salt Lake.