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NEWTON, Iowa — Kyle Larson was hoping for a rainout of Saturday’s NASCAR Cup Series qualifying session at Iowa Speedway.

His wish wasn’t granted, but in the end, it didn’t matter. Larson will start from the front of the field in Sunday’s Iowa Corn 350 Powered by Ethanol, the inaugural Cup race at Iowa Speedway (7 p.m. ET on USA, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Under the metric qualifying system, a canceled session would have put Larson, last Sunday’s winner at Sonoma Raceway, on the pole for the debut race. Instead, the driver of the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet had to earn his fourth Busch Light Pole Award of the season and the 20th of his career.

The last driver to make a qualifying run, Larson covered the 0.875-mile distance in 23.084 seconds (136.458 mph), edging Ryan Blaney (136.311 mph) for the top starting spot by 0.025 seconds.

“It was challenging, but it wasn’t as challenging as I thought it would be,” said Larson, who had the benefit of watching 35 other drivers make attempts ahead of him. “It helps going out last. It helps being able to watch everybody.

“But I was hoping for rain.”

Blaney felt he left some speed on the table during his two-lap run.

“I wish I could have picked up on the second lap a little more,” said the reigning series champion, who added that he missed Turns 3 and 4 slightly on his second circuit.

With the qualifying session delayed for 45 minutes because of track-drying efforts from a storm that blew through during lunchtime, drivers ran only one round, with the top five drivers from Group A and the top five from Group B making up the top 10 starting positions.

The Group B drivers ran second and had a clear advantage, with all of the top five starting positions going to drivers from that group. Josh Berry (135.916 mph) will start third, followed by William Byron (135.595 mph) and Brad Keselowski (135.338 mph).

Chase Briscoe led Group A at 133.046 mph and will start sixth, followed by Kyle Busch, Tyler Reddick, Chase Elliott and Christopher Bell (though Bell will drop to the rear in a backup car after crashing in Friday’s practice).

The remainder of the field is ordered by group in alternating numbers. Joey Logano, sixth in Group B, starts 11th beside Denny Hamlin, sixth-fastest in Group A.

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Flames’ Zary gets 2 games for elbowing Pettersson

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Flames' Zary gets 2 games for elbowing Pettersson

NEW YORK — Calgary forward Connor Zary was suspended two games without pay Thursday for elbowing Vancouver defenseman Elias Pettersson during the Canucks’ 4-3 shootout victory over the Flames.

Zary, 23, was assessed a minor penalty for interference on the play at 11:19 of the first period Wednesday night. The suspension will cost him $8,993 in salary.

After Pettersson knocked Calgary center Nazem Kadri off his skates just as Kadri unloaded the puck and crossed the blue line, Zary retaliated with a blindside hit that led to the penalty.

Pettersson had the tying goal with 6:44 remaining in regulation and scored in the first round of the shootout. Conor Garland added the winner in the fourth round of the shootout.

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Devils’ Hamilton out for regular season, GM says

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Devils' Hamilton out for regular season, GM says

New Jersey Devils defenseman Dougie Hamilton will miss the remainder of the regular season and “possibly” the playoffs due to a lower-body injury, general manager Tom Fitzgerald said.

When pressed if Hamilton could return if the Devils reach the second round of the postseason, Fitzgerald wasn’t too optimistic on Wednesday.

“We’re not planning on it, how’s that?” Fitzgerald said during an appearance on the “Krackin’ Canuckleheads” podcast.

Hamilton has been sidelined since he was tangled up with Stars forward Mason Marchment in the first period of a 4-3 loss to Dallas on March 4.

Hamilton, 31, has 40 points (nine goals, 31 assists) in 63 games this season. He is competing in the fourth campaign of his seven-year, $63 million contract.

Hamilton has totaled 501 points (151 goals, 350 assists) in 834 career games with the Boston Bruins, Calgary Flames, Carolina Hurricanes and Devils.

Hamilton was selected by the Bruins with the ninth overall pick of the 2011 NHL draft.

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Devers: Willing to do whatever Red Sox want

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Devers: Willing to do whatever Red Sox want

Rafael Devers told reporters Thursday that he’s “good to do whatever” the Boston Red Sox want him to do, an indication that he’s willing to move away from third base and serve as the team’s designated hitter this season.

A switch of roles didn’t seem likely last month, when Devers balked at the idea at moving to DH in the wake of Boston signing Alex Bregman.

“Third base is my position,” Devers said then.

But the three-time All-Star said Thursday that he spoke with manager Alex Cora and chief baseball officer Craig Breslow a few weeks ago and told them “I’m good to do whatever they want me to do.

“I’m here to help,” he said through his interpreter, according to The Athletic. “I’ve already spoken with them about that and they know where I stand, but I’m just ready to play.

“I’m not going to share what we talked about here just because it would make me come off … those are private conversations. So I told them everything of my point of view, how I see things, and they know that.”

Devers has yet to appear in an official spring training game for Boston. It was supposed to happen Tuesday but got pushed back to this weekend. He battled soreness in both of his shoulders last season and spent the first couple of weeks of spring training trying to strengthen them ahead of the regular season.

He did play in an intrasquad game Thursday in Fort Myers, Florida, before he spoke with the media, and had a home run off new Red Sox starter Walker Buehler.

Asked if he expects to be ready for Opening Day against the Rangers on March 27 in Texas, Devers said: “I expect to be there.”

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