Martin Truex Jr. dominates at Darlington for third win of year

Martin Truex Jr. powered his way around Darlington (South Carolina) Raceway, sweeping both stages and leading the final 105 laps Sunday.

Kyle Larson cut into Truex’s often large lead over the final 30 laps, coming as close as two car-lengths down the stretch. But the Joe Gibbs Racing driver held him off for his third victory of the season.

“Hopefully, we can keep this rolling,” Truex said.

The victory gave Truex some payback at Darlington from the last time here last September, when he led 196 laps, yet finished 22nd after tangling for the lead late with Chase Elliott.

This time, Truex made sure he no issues by running out front — often holding a 10-second lead on the field — to win for the second time at the track “Too Tough To Tame.”

Truex led 248 of the 293 laps for his 30th career victory in NASCAR’s top series. He’s the only driver with multiple wins over the year’s first 12 races.

He took control midway through the first of three stages, moving in front on a restart and settling in for a long ride up front. Truex led the final 21 laps to take the first stage, then the last 36 as he collected the second stage win by some 14 seconds over his JGR teammate Kyle Busch.

Larson was second withBusch, third. William Byron was fourth and

Denny Hamlin, who came in as the NASCAR points’ leader, was fifth.

Elsewhere: Lewis

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Hamilton beat Max Verstappen in a thrilling duel to win the Spanish Grand Prix at Montmelo, Spain, and increase his championship lead over his top rival. Verstappen’s Red Bull edged the pole-sitting Hamilton to the first curve to snatch the early lead.

But Mercedes’ use of two pit stops to give Hamilton fresher tires down the final stretch paid off and allowed him to overtake the Dutchman with six laps remaining.

ETC.

College tennis: The

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University of Miami women’s tennis team dropped a 4-1 decision Saturday evening at ninth-ranked UCF in the second round of the NCAA Team Championship. No. 23 Miami (15-9, 8-5 ACC) took the doubles point at the USTA National Campus, but the ninth-seeded Knights won all six first sets in singles on their way to victory.

NHL: Alex DeBrincat

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scored two more goals,

Kevin Lankinen made 37 saves and the Chicago Blackhawks welcomed 3,820 fans back to the United Center with a 4-2 victory over the Dallas Stars on Sunday night.

Tennis: Alexander

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Zverev rallied to defeat

Matteo Berrettini 6-7 (8-10), 6-4, 6-3 for his second Madrid Open title. The win on Sunday gave him his fourth Masters 1000 title, and first in three years.

Soccer: Chelsea retained

● the Women’s Super League title and became the all-time record champion in the English game by beating Manchester

City to first place. Chelsea was a 5-0 winner at home to Reading and finished two points ahead of City, which won its final game — 1-0 at West Ham — but also needed Chelsea to lose to stand a chance of jumping into first . ... Monaco won 1-0 at Reims to stay in third place and the Champions League spots, but Marseille dropped crucial points in the race for fifth and the Europa League after a 1-0 defeat at Saint-Etienne . ... Manchester United delayed fierce rival Manchester City’s coronation as Premier League champion by rallying to beat Aston Villa 3-1 . ... Real Madrid missed its chance to go top of the Spanish league with only three rounds left by drawing 2-2 with Sevilla at home, keeping rival Atletico Madrid in first place. Atletico, chasing its first league title since 2014, stayed two points in front of second-place Madrid and Barcelona.

Boxing: Canelo Alvarez

● added another belt in the super middleweight division, handing Billy Joe Saunders his first loss when the English boxer didn’t come out for the ninth round late Saturday at Arlington, Texas. Saunders’ corner waved in defeat before the ninth while treating a cut under his right eye. Alvarez (561-2, 38 knockouts) added Saunders’ WBO belt to his WBA and WBC straps.