LOS ANGELES -- The pilot of a helicopter that crashed into a Southern California hillside and killed Kobe Bryant, himself and seven others was reprimanded five years ago for flying without permission into airspace while he had reduced visibility, according to a Federal Aviation Administration enforcement record.

Ara Zobayan was counseled by an FAA investigator after he violated FAA rules by crossing into busy airspace near Los Angeles International Airport on May 11, 2015, according to the record, which was first reported Friday by the Los Angeles Times.

The record doesn't indicate whether Zobayan was carrying any passengers at the time.

Zobayan, 50, died Jan. 26 when his helicopter plunged at high speed into a hillside in Calabasas, northwest of Los Angeles. Zobayan had been trying to climb above a cloud layer when the aircraft banked left and plunged 1,200 feet (366 meters) at high speed. There has been speculation that the pilot became disoriented in the foggy weather. The crash remains under investigation.

The crash also killed Bryant, his 13-year-old daughter, Gianna, and six others. The victims will be honored Monday at a public memorial at Staples Center in Los Angeles.

At the time, Zobayan was chief pilot for the charter service Island Express Helicopters Inc.

He was flying for the same company during the 2015 incident.

According to the FAA report, Zobayan's helicopter was near the Hawthorne, California, airport and heading north when he asked the LAX tower for permission to cross LAX airspace. Zobayan was told that weather conditions didn't meet the minimum for pilots using visual flight rules (VFR) -- that is, flying by sight.

Zobayan was asked whether he could maintain "VFR conditions."

Zobayan replied that he could "maintain special VFR" -- meaning he sought permission to fly by sight in less-than-optimal visibility.

When air traffic control denied the request and told him to stay clear of the area, Zobayan replied that he could "maintain VFR," but during the conversation, the helicopter entered the airspace, according to the record.

Zobayan contacted authorities and his company after the incident and was cooperative. But an FAA investigator faulted him for failing to properly plan and review current weather at LAX, which would have allowed him time to communicate earlier with the tower to receive clearance, according to the record.

The report said Zobayan "admitted his error, took responsibility for his action, and was willing to take any other necessary steps toward compliance.''

"There are no indications that this is a repeated incident and there are no signs that this incident is a trend with Mr. Zobayan," the report said.

Zobayan was counseled "on operating in Class B airspace, special VFR weather minimums, proper planning, reviewing weather, and anticipating required action," the report said. "He was cooperative and receptive to the counseling."

Island Express Helicopters Inc. reported that it conducted additional ground and flight training with Zobayan.

Veteran helicopter pilots were divided over the severity of the FAA violation, the Times reported.

"I don't know a single pilot out there who hasn't violated a rule," Shawn Coyle said. "If that's the only violation he's ever had then I would say he's pretty safe."

But former Island Express pilot Kurt Deetz said entering LAX airspace without approval can be dangerous because of the possible presence of commercial jets. He also questioned Zobayan's communication with air traffic controllers.

"You can't request special VFR and then they deny you and you say, 'Oh wait a minute, actually I'm VFR,'" he told the Times. "That's not how it works. It shows that perhaps his understanding of special VFR as opposed to VFR was cloudy."

LAS VEGAS – Call it a happy homecoming for Sin City native Kyle Busch.

For the second straight night in his hometown, Busch celebrated in victory lane, this time dominating the Strat 200 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway for his seventh win in as many starts in the NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series dating back to 2018.

Friday night’s Truck Series beatdown – the 57th win of Busch’s career in his 151st start – came just 24 hours after a late model score at the three-eighths-mile Bullring short track across the street.

Where Busch said he “had to work” for the late model win, his Truck Series victory was no contest.

The all-time series wins leader led seven times for a race-high 108 of the 134 laps turned, fending off a determined Sheldon Creed during a short battle in the final stage and pulling away down the stretch.

Busch cruised to the checkered flag 5.958 seconds clear of 2016 Truck Series champion Johnny Sauter.

While he may have made it look easy, Busch noted that getting up to speed was his Achilles heel Friday.

“I don’t know why, but we just couldn’t fire off on the restarts,” noted Busch in victory lane. “We just didn’t have any speed on those, but once we got about 10 laps in (to a run), we just started to check out from everybody. This Cessna Tundra was awesome. It had really good long-run speed and the guys did a fantastic job all night. It’s the first win for (Danny) Stockman with KBM, too, so that’s really cool.

“All my guys work their butts off. When we unloaded, we weren’t really all that close, and we worked on it a lot with this new tire and got it a lot better,” Busch added. “I feel like we showed that on the long runs. Overall, it’s pretty cool to come home and have a homecoming win like this in the Truck Series.”

After winning both 30-lap stages to start the night, Busch led off the gun following a lap-78 restart thanks to a huge shove from Creed, who then went to work at trying to unseat Busch from the lead.

For nearly four straight laps, Creed and Busch ran side by side, inches apart as the two side-drafted one another trying to gain any sort of an advantage and trading the lead at the start/finish line each time.

Finally, on the 82nd rotation, Creed got loose off turn four and faded back to sixth while Busch stormed out to a lead it looked like he’d never relinquish again under green-flag conditions.

However, a crash between Busch’s young rookie – Raphael Lessard – and Daytona winner Grant Enfinger with 45 to go set up the final restart of the night and gave Creed one final chance at Busch.

Creed capitalized on it, reclaiming the point on laps 96 and 97, but Busch soared past on the 98th round with an outside sweep to take full command of the race for good.

Busch led the final 37 laps uncontested for his third-straight spring Truck Series win at Las Vegas.

Sauter, Austin Hill, Matt Crafton and Ben Rhodes filled out the top five, with ThorSport Racing claiming three of the first five finishing positions in a strong showing for the Sandusky, Ohio-based organization.

Sixth through 10th were Zane Smith, Todd Gilliland, Tanner Gray, Stewart Friesen and Sheldon Creed.

The NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series season continues March 14 at Atlanta (Ga.) Motor Speedway.

February 22: Peshawar Zalmi vs Quetta Gladiators at National Stadium, Karachi

Our XI: Shane Watson, Tom Banton, Kamran Akmal, Liam Livingstone, Jason Roy, Ahmed Shehzad, Mohammad Nawaz, Fawad Ahmed, Mohammed Hasnain, Wahab Riaz, Hasan Ali

Captain: Shane Watson

Though Watson is closing in on 39 years and has been playing only franchise cricket for close to four years, he will still be the most important wicket for his opponents. He scored two fifties (91* and 71) against this opponent last year. Watson, in fact, has scored 272 runs against Peshawar since 2018 at a strike rate of 154.5 and averaging 54.4.

Vice Captain: Tom Banton

Some might call Banton a hit or miss batsman but his average of almost 35 in T20s doesn't suggest so. He is coming off a pretty good BBL 2019/20. He scored 34 boundaries (18 fours and 16 sixes) in just 7 innings in the tournament. Banton loves pace on the ball and the Quetta bowlers have plenty of that, so Banton as your vice captain might be a good punt.

Hot Picks

Jason Roy

Fresh off a very good series in South Africa, Roy will be eager to get going in the PSL. Though he got a duck in the opening game, he shouldn't be ignored. Roy scored 117 runs at a strike rate of 164.8 in the series against South Africa.

Liam Livingstone

There are few people in world cricket at the moment who can hit the ball as hard as Livingstone. He was the highest run getter for Perth Scorchers in BBL 2019/20 with 425 runs at a SR of 142.61. Livingstone crossed the 50-run mark four times in the tournament and on all those occasions, his strike rate was 146 or more.

Fawad Ahmed

He had a pretty ordinary BBL this season but the fact that that has not affected his T20 numbers tells you how good he is. He has an excellent economy rate of 6.81 in the format. Ahmed's experience from last PSL will surely help him and the team. He picked up 11 wickets at an economy of 6.57 in the last edition of the PSL.

Wahab Riaz

Riaz has developed so many skills and variations over the last few years which have made him a complete bowler and a potent weapon in the format. He picked up 5/8 in his last game before the PSL (Dhaka Platoons vs Rajshahi Royals in BPL 2019/20). Riaz picked up 10 wickets in 7 games in that edition of BPL. He also had the best SR (15.4) among all bowlers who had picked up 10 or more wickets for Dhaka in the season. You cannot afford to leave him out.

Value Picks

Mohammad Nawaz

Nawaz is one of those utility players who can contribute with the bat and ball. He may not win you matches on his own but can surely finish games off with the bat and bowl crucial overs with the ball. He has scored 176 runs and picked up 20 wickets across the last two seasons of the PSL. Nawaz is a valuable pick because he mostly bowls out his 4 overs and bats in the top 6.

Points to note

• These two teams met 4 times in PSL 2018/19 and Quetta won all 4 of those games. So it is a good idea to have more players from that side.

• There are a lot of Zalmi batsmen to choose from so choose wisely. It is a good tactic to have your captain and vice-captain from different teams as both teams are high scoring, successful teams.

Toss Zimbabwe chose to bat v Bangladesh

Zimbabwe opted to bat on the first morning of the one-off Test in Mirpur. With Sean Williams missing this Test to be present for the birth of his first child, stand-in captain Craig Ervine called correctly and gave Zimbabwe's batsmen first use of a track that has an uncharacteristically full covering of grass and could well encourage the seamers with the new ball. They also handed an international debut to medium-pacer Charlton Tshuma on the back of consistent returns in the Logan Cup.

As expected, Bangladesh fielded two seamers in Abu Jayed and Ebadat Hossain alongside two frontline spinners in Nayeem Hasan and Taijul Islam. Bangladesh will also hope to be buoyed by the return of Mushfiqur Rahim to the middle order after he missed the Test in Pakistan due to security reasons.

Bangladesh dropped Mehidy Hasan for the first time in a home Test since he made his debut against England in 2016. Mehidy has been off-colour since taking 15 wickets against West Indies at home in 2018, after which he took six wickets in four Tests last year. He missed the Rawalpindi Test earlier this month due to an injury. Nayeem comes on the back of taking 13 wickets last week in a first-class match, with 8 for 107 and 5 for 101 against North Zone in the Bangladesh Cricket League.

The preference is a significant decision within the senior team where there has been strong hints of change after Bangladesh's sixth successive defeat since last year.

Timycen Maruma slotted into Zimbabwe's middle order in place of the absent Williams, while the visitors opted for a seam-heavy attack; Ainsley Ndlovu is the only specialist spinner in Zimbabwe's XI.

Bangladesh: 1 Tamim Iqbal, 2 Saif Hassan, 3 Najmul Hossain Shanto, 4 Mominul Haque (capt), 5 Mushfiqur Rahim, 6 Mohammad Mithun, 7 Liton Das (wk), 8 Taijul Islam, 9 Abu Jayed, 10 Nayeem Hasan, 11Ebadat Hossain

Zimbabwe: 1 Kevin Kasuza, 2 Prince Masvaure, 3 Craig Ervine (capt), 4 Brendan Taylor, 5 Sikandar Raza, 6 Regis Chakabva (wk), 7 Timycen Maruma, 8 Ainsley Ndlovu, 9 Victor Nyauchi, 10 Donald Tiripano, 11 Charlton Tshuma

Sri Lanka chose to bowl v West Indies

Sri Lanka won the toss and chose to field first at the SSC, expecting a little movement in the air and off the surface early in the day. The track itself appeared a good one-day pitch - suited to batting - and may settle down as the game wears on.

West Indies named a largely predictable XI, asking Sunil Ambris to open alongside Shai Hope after Brandon King's two failures in the practice matches this week. Nicholas Pooran has also sufficiently recovered from the back complaint he had picked up in the first of those games to be available for this match.

Legspinner Hayden Walsh has been preferred to left-arm spinner Fabian Allen. Walsh took 2 for 52 and 1 for 44 in the warm-up matches, which were comparable numbers to what Allen had registered. However, Sri Lanka have generally been less comfortable against wristspin than fingerspin in recent years, which may have influenced this selection.

Sri Lanka, meanwhile, named two wristspinners in Wanindu Hasaranga and Lakshan Sandakan. This means Isuru Udana and Nuwan Pradeep are the only specialist quicks, though they will have support from allrounders Angelo Mathews and Thisara Perera. Thisara claimed a place in the XI ahead of Dasun Shanaka. According to coach Mickey Arthur, this was down to Thisara's superior bowling.

Sri Lanka: 1 Dimuth Karunaratne (capt.), 2 Avishka Fernando, 3 Kusal Perera (wk), 4 Kusal Mendis, 5 Angelo Mathews, 6 Dhananjaya de Silva, 7 Thisara Perera, 8 Wanindu Hasaranga, 9 Isuru Udana, 10 Lakshan Sandakan, 11 Nuwan Pradeep

West Indies: 1 Sunil Ambris, 2 Shai Hope (wk), 3 Darren Bravo, 4 Roston Chase, 5 Nicholas Pooran, 6 Kieron Pollard (capt.), 7 Jason Holder, 8 Hayden Walsh, 9 Keemo Paul, 10 Alzarri Joseph, 11 Sheldon Cottrell

LAS VEGAS – Seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson is riding a near-three-year winless streak, but he looked as racy as anyone during a pair of Friday practices at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Johnson posted the fastest lap of the day at the 1.5-mile oval, heading Happy Hour in Sin City with a best time of 30.095 seconds (179.432 mph) in the No. 48 Ally Chevrolet.

The El Cajon, Calif., native is the only four-time Cup Series winner in Las Vegas history and the all-time lap leader at the track with 595 tours out in front of the field.

Though he hasn’t been to victory lane since Dover Int’l Speedway on June 4, 2017, Johnson felt as optimistic as anyone after final practice that he may be able to end that losing streak on Sunday.

“I hope this is indicative of the rest of the weekend,” Johnson said with a smile. “This Ally Chevy put up a great lap time in practice. We worked through some stuff in the first practice, got it driving a lot better and had speed in the second practice. That’s a good thing, because usually those two things don’t come together.

“I’m very optimistic and just very thankful for everyone at Hendrick Motorsports, Chevrolet and all the hard work that’s gone into this new Camaro,” Johnson added. “We’re in the early days with it, but I think we’re in a lot better spot (than last year) and there’s a lot of smiles around this No. 48 car.”

Stewart-Haas Racing teammates Clint Bowyer (30.122/179.271) and Aric Almirola (30.139/179.170) followed Johnson on the speed charts, holding down second and third in the overall order.

Almirola was the quickest man during the first 50-minute practice session earlier in the evening, while Bowyer was second-quick in that round before also being the runner-up in final practice.

A third Stewart-Haas Ford Mustang – the No. 4 of Kevin Harvick – was fourth on speed for the day, with Matt DiBenedetto completing the top five in the iconic No. 21 Motorcraft/Quick Lane Tire & Auto Ford for the Wood Brothers.

Impressing in a substitute role for the injured Ryan Newman, Ross Chastain was sixth-quickest for the day in the No. 6 Roush Fenway Racing Ford Mustang, just a tenth and change off Johnson’s leading lap.

Kyle Larson, Ryan Blaney, John Hunter Nemechek and Alex Bowman completed the top 10 on the combined practice charts.

Martin Truex Jr., 11th in Happy Hour, was 13th overall on the day and the fastest of the Toyota contingent.

Qualifying for the Pennzoil 400 is slated for 2:30 p.m. ET Saturday, live on FOX Sports 1, the Performance Racing Network and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, channel 90.

CHANDLER, Ariz. – Matt Hagan continued his domination of Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park on Friday, capturing the provisional No. 1 qualifier spot at the 36th annual NHRA Arizona Nationals.

Steve Torrence (Top Fuel) and Jeg Coughlin Jr. (Pro Stock) also claimed provisional No. 1 qualifier spots in their respective categories.

Hagan took the provisional No. 1 spot during the second qualifying session with a pass of 3.859 seconds at 331.61 mph in his Mopar Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat Funny Car. Hagan is looking to continue his momentum from the season opener in Pomona after seeding himself in the No. 1 spot at the Winternationals two weeks ago. Hagan is the reigning event winner and is looking to take home his 34th career win, three of which have come at the NHRA Arizona Nationals.

“We have a really great race car,” said Hagan. “We qualified No. 1 in Pomona and then rolling here into Phoenix, the provisional No. 1. The car is just really working. We have to make some better decisions on race day, but race day is race day. You never know what is going to happen and what you will get thrown at you and how the track will be. But all-in-all conditions are great out here right now. The car is good, the track is good and just all around a really good pass.”

Sixteen-time Funny Car champion John Force is close on the heels of Hagan, currently sitting in the No. 2 spot after a pass of 3.861 seconds at 331.94 mph. Force’s teammate Robert Hight currently sits in the third spot with a 3.867-second pass at 330.55 mph.

Reigning Top Fuel champion Steve Torrence, making his return to NHRA competition after skipping the opener in Pomona while his team appealed a penalty against him that was issued following the 2019 season finale, grabbed the provisional No. 1 spot with a 3.671-second pass at 326.48 mph in his CAPCO Contractors Top Fuel dragster.

If it holds, Torrence will claim his 25th career No. 1 qualifier.

The ladies of Top Fuel are looking to take the No. 1 spot from Torrence, with Brittany Force in second with a 3.680-second run at 331.12 mph and Leah Pruett close behind in third with a 3.680-second pass at 328.06 mph.

Pro Stock’s Coughlin continued his successful start to the season, claiming the provisional No. 1 spot with a 6.536-second pass at 208.46 mph. Coughlin has swept the season so far, having grabbed the No. 1 qualifying spot and the event win at the season opener in Pomona.

Coughlin is on the hunt for his sixth Pro Stock world championship, hoping to end his career on top, after announcing his retirement at the conclusion of the season.

Erica Enders, Coughlin’s teammate, sits in a close second with a 6.565-second run at 209.82 mph, followed by Aaron Stanfield, who ran a 6.567-second pass at 207.69 mph.

John Tonelli's No. 27 has been raised to the rafters at Nassau Coliseum, joining the numbers of some of his former teammates from the New York Islanders' Stanley Cup dynasty.

Tonelli, known as a gritty player who worked to get the puck in the corners, became the seventh player to have his number retired by the team when he was honored before Friday night's game against the Detroit Red Wings.

"Tonight is not about me," Tonelli said. "It's all about giving thanks to my extended family, each and every one of you here and at home tonight. All of you have played a starring role in the journey that has brought this extremely honored and humbled man before you. Tonight is about my teammates, some of whom are standing with me. ... I feel incredibly honored to have skated alongside each of you and to be part of the success that we achieved as a team."

Tonelli is the first Islander to have his number retired since Bryan Trottier (19) in 2001. Denis Potvin (5), Clark Gillies (9), Mike Bossy (22), Bobby Nystrom (23) and Billy Smith (31) had their numbers retired previously. They were all part of the teams that won four straight Stanley Cup championships from 1980 to 1983.

Five of the six were in attendance for Tonelli's big night. Bossy was unable to make it, but a congratulatory video message from him was played in the arena.

The 62-year-old Tonelli also was joined by his wife, Lauren, sons Jordan and Zack, and his mother, Joy. NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly was in attendance as well.

Tonelli, who had 206 goals and 338 assists in 594 games over eight seasons with the Islanders, was shown a bronze plaque that will be displayed in the team's hall of fame. Islanders owners Jon Ledecky and Scott Malkin presented him with a framed No. 27 jersey and painted portrait by Tony Capparelli among other gifts.

In a speech that lasted about 15 minutes, Tonelli thanked coaches from his WHA and juniors days, as well as former teammates for sharing in his success. He also praised Al Arbour, the late longtime coach of the Islanders, who has a banner with 1,500 -- the number of games he coached the team -- also hanging in the rafters.

"Thank you Al for believing in all of us," Tonelli said. "Thank you for making us all feel important, to be proud of our roles, for knocking us down when were too cocky and for picking us up when we were down."

Tonelli referenced the goal in overtime of Game 7 against the Philadelphia Flyers that gave the Islanders their first championship, when he sent a pass through two defenders to a streaking Nystrom for the win.

"Bob, that magical moment on May 24, 1980, will live with me forever," he said.

He also spoke glowingly about Butch Goring, who will have his No. 91 retired on Feb. 29 before the Islanders' game against Boston.

"Prior to his arrival, we were a pretty good hockey team but we were missing something," Tonelli said. "Butch, you were an inspiration to play with and I'm truly looking forward to standing at ice level next Saturday and watching this tremendous honor bestowed upon you."

Tonelli had a frosty relationship with the Islanders after he was traded to Calgary on March 11, 1986. It began to thaw the past few years after Malkin and Ledecky took over control as majority owners and began actively honoring former players. It's part of the buildup to the team's planned move to a new arena at Belmont Park for the 2021-22 season.

"Jon and Scott, thanks for bringing me back home," Tonelli said. "This barn is the place where I came prepared to play the game with the responsibility to play it hard for my family, my teammates, my coaches, the training staff and most of all my extended family -- all of you, the fans."

Tonelli said he had "trust" in general manager Lou Lamoriello and coach Barry Trotz, and thanked the current Islanders -- all of whom watched the ceremony wearing No. 27 Tonelli jerseys on the bench -- for "the pride you bring to us alumni."

He also singled out team captain Anders Lee, who currently wears the number that was retired for Tonelli.

"I am so proud and so honored you will continue to wear our No. 27," Tonelli said. "I also look forward to the day we can share it all the way to the top of the rafters."