MARTINSVILLE, Va. (AP) — Denny Hamlin earned his fifth pole position at Martinsville Speedway and 49th of his Cup Series career, tying him with NASCAR Hall of Famer Bobby Isaac for 10th all time.
The Joe Gibbs Racing star turned a 98.241-mph lap Saturday in the No. 11 Toyota to beat William Byron, whose No. 24 Chevrolet qualified second at 97.957 mph for Sunday’s 400-lap race.
With his win two weeks ago at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Hamlin, 45, broke a tie with Kevin Harvick for 10th on the all-time win list in NASCAR’s premier series. He is two poles away from tying the career total of Ryan Newman, one of the greatest qualifiers in NASCAR history.
“It’s pretty awesome,” said Hamlin, who grew up a few hours east of Martinsville in the Richmond, Virginia, suburb of Chesterfield. “Really with age, the hardest part is still having the fast time. It’s one thing to be able to manage races and use your experience to your advantage. But usually the first thing to go is your all-out speed, and we’re still knocking off poles, which is really good. I was around when Newman was just unstoppable in qualifying. So damn, I didn’t know he had that many.”
Hamlin has six wins at Martinsville, and his victory last season broke a 10-year drought at the 0.526-mile oval.
Byron won the most recent race at Martinsville last October and has victories in three of the past eight races there.
“I feel like our race car is going to be really good tomorrow,” said the Hendrick Motorsports driver, whose previous best start this season was ninth at Phoenix and Las Vegas. “We’ve learned a lot this year. It seems like Saturdays have been a struggle for us this year and not as consistent as we’d like.”
Josh Berry qualified third, followed by Ty Gibbs and Shane van Gisbergen.
Brad Keselowski, who will make his 600th career start Sunday, qualified 23rd.
AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing
FILE - Denny Hamlin poses with the trophy in Victory Lane after winning a NASCAR Cup Series auto race in Martinsville, Va., March 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Chuck Burton, File)
Denny Hamlin waves during driver introductions before a NASCAR Cup Series auto race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway Sunday, March 15, 2026, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Steve Marcus)
FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — Olivia Olson and the Michigan Wolverines already had weathered a six-minute scoring drought to start the game when they scored 17 consecutive third-quarter points in their Sweet 16 meeting with Louisville.
“When we just take a breath and relax, we have so much fun,” Olson said. “So just that third quarter we were just really playing loose and having fun, and I think that’s what ignited our run.”
Olson scored 19 points, fellow sophomore Syla Swords added 16 and No. 2 seed Michigan overcame a sluggish start for a 71-52 victory over the Cardinals in March Madness on Saturday.
The Wolverines had a 16-0 run in the second quarter to erase an 11-point deficit, their biggest, then broke a tie in the third with the 17-0 burst that let them cruise to their second Elite Eight, both in the past five seasons.
Michigan (28-6) tied a school record for victories and will play either top-seeded Texas or Kentucky on Monday night for a spot in the Final Four.
“It took us a minute to settle,” coach Kim Barnes Arico said. “But then once we did, I think our confidence exploded and we just were really disruptive on the defensive end, which we pride ourselves with being, and that allowed the floodgates to open on offense.”
Elif Istanbulluoglu scored 18 points but was the only player in double figures for the third-seeded Cardinals (29-8), who shot 35% and were outscored 49-16 over a two-quarter stretch from midway through the second to the middle of the fourth.
“It was not a good performance at all by us. It was actually the worst we’ve had all year,” said Louisville coach Jeff Walz, who has overseen all 13 of the program's Sweet 16 trips during his 19 seasons. “It’s what they did, but a lot of it was because what we didn’t do.”
Olson, the top scorer among a bevy of sophomores leading both teams, missed four of her first five shots, and the Wolverines didn't score until Swords' bucket made it 8-2 with 3:46 left in the first quarter.
Te'Yala Delfosse, who had 10 points, eight rebounds and two blocks, had a 3-pointer during the second-quarter run that she capped with a three-point play for Michigan's first lead at 28-25.
Swords and Olson connected on consecutive 3-pointers late in the 17-0 run that put Michigan in control for good. The sophomore standouts combined to go 9 of 16 from the field in the second half.
Louisville had won both of the previous meetings in the NCAA Tournament, including a victory four years ago that sent the Cardinals to the Final Four.
“Early in my career, it seemed like we got them in every bracket,” Barnes Arico said. “I’m not up here complaining. I know there’s been a lot of coaches come through that said they get the same. So I was not looking forward to playing them at all, but heck, it feels so great to be on the other side of that.”
Louisville's three double-figure scorers — Tajianna Roberts, Laura Ziegler and Imari Berry — combined to make just eight of 34 from the field. They were 2 of 12 from 3-point range as the Cardinals finished 3 of 14 (21%) from deep.
“I think you definitely have to stay present and trust the work that you put in all year, because the work you put in is going to show,” Roberts said.
Barnes Arico was wearing a maize No. 11 softball jersey on the sideline, and her staff members also had on baseball or softball jerseys.
She said she wore a similar jersey the other time the Wolverines reached the Sweet 16 four years ago, a squad featuring Naz Hillmon, Michigan's first Associated Press All-American. Barnes Arico said 11 was the number for both her late brother and her father, who died this year.
“It just gives us a different look,” Barnes Arico said. “If we keep this thing going, it will be our Sweet 16 thing.”
AP March Madness bracket: https://apnews.com/hub/ncaa-womens-bracket and coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/march-madness
Louisville guard Imari Berry (2) and Michigan guard Brooke Q. Daniels (5) dive to the floor competing for control of a loose ball in the first half in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA college basketball tournament, Saturday, March 28, 2026, in Fort Worth, Texas. (AP Photo/LM Otero)
