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.

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Tiger Woods got out of jail and into the passenger seat of a dark SUV, his face as vacant as his mug shot as he was driven away to a future again filled with so much uncertainty.

The next step legally is facing charges of driving while intoxicated, damage to property and refusal to submit to a urine test, which led to him spending eight hours Friday in the Martin County jail some 15 miles from his home on Jupiter Island, Florida.

His manager at Excel Sports, Mark Steinberg, did not respond to a request for comment Saturday on Woods’ arrest.

As for golf, this comes at a bad time for the sport’s most influential player.

Woods had said earlier in the week he was trying to get in shape for the Masters on April 9-12, though that was looking unlikely. He turned 50 at the end of last year. “This body, it doesn’t recover like it did when it was 24, 25,” Woods said earlier this week.

He also was days away from a decision on whether to be the next U.S. Ryder Cup captain for the 2027 matches in Ireland. Two officials from the PGA of America did not immediately return phone calls from The Associated Press seeking comment.

And on April 5, he is scheduled to be in Augusta, Georgia, with Masters chairman Fred Ridley to celebrate a project at “The Patch,” the nickname of a municipal golf course where Woods’ design team created a short course to go along with a major upgrade to the public course.

Woods also is the central figure as chairman of the Future Competition Committee that is reshaping the PGA Tour model of tournaments. Tour CEO Brian Rolapp predicted meaningful progress this summer.

The PGA Tour declined to comment on Woods’ arrest.

Now everything is on hold while Woods sorts through his second arrest in the last nine years, and his fourth car crash dating to 2009.

Woods waited until the summer of 2024 before deciding against being Ryder Cup captain for the 2025 matches in New York. The Associated Press reported in February the PGA of America had a soft deadline of the end of March for him to decide this time.

The PGA of America already is under scrutiny because of the unruly fan behavior at Bethpage Park last September, and this is not a time for another misstep. One person with knowledge of the process said the PGA of America has a backup plan of four potential candidates for the Ryder Cup committee to review if Woods declines — or if the PGA of America moves on.

Martin County Sheriff John Budensiek said Woods’ Land Rover was going at a “high speed” when it clipped the trailer of a pressure cleaning truck and flipped on its side. Woods was not hurt and climbed out through the passenger window. The driver of the truck was not injured, either.

“Had there been somebody moving in the opposite direction, we would not be having a conversation saying there were no injuries,” Budensiek said. “This could’ve been a lot worse.”

Budensiek said investigators on the scene believe Woods had taken some kind of medication or drug. He described Woods as lethargic and said the golfer agreed to a breath test that showed “triple zeroes” — no sign of alcohol. By declining the urine test, the sheriff said, officials will never get “definitive results” about what caused the impairment.

That was consistent with his 2017 arrest on a DUI charge in Florida, when Woods was found asleep behind the wheel of a car with the engine running, the right blinker on, two flat tires and light damage to the driver’s side.

Woods said it was a bad mix of medication. Toxicology reports later revealed the active ingredient for marijuana, two painkillers, a sleep drug and an anti-anxiety drug. There was no alcohol.

The pain medication has been standard fare for golf’s most celebrated — and wounded — player.

After four knee surgeries — the last one a week after he won the U.S. Open with shredded knee ligaments and two stress fractures — Woods had four back surgeries in four years (2014 through 2017) only to return to win the Masters in 2019 in one of golf’s most astonishing comebacks.

And then came the most serious crash of all, in February 2021. His SUV was going 84 to 87 mph (135 to 140 kph) in an area with a speed limit of 45 mph (72 kph) when it veered off a coastal road in the Los Angeles suburbs, rolled down a hill and smacked into a tree.

He was not cited and Los Angeles authorities did not seek a warrant for blood samples. The injuries to his right leg and ankle were extensive — Woods later said amputation was considered — and it was remarkable he even returned to playing.

Woods has never been the same as a golfer since that accident. He has played 11 tournaments in the five years since that crash. Of the four times he finished 72 holes, he hasn’t been closer than 16 shots of the winner. He shares the PGA Tour’s all-time record with 82 wins.

But he remains a huge draw. Woods decided to compete Tuesday night in the finals of his indoor TGL league, and viewership spiked to nearly 1 million, the second-highest rating behind Woods making his TGL debut.

He made his public debut at age 2 on “The Mike Douglas Show” and has been in the spotlight ever since, setting records that are likely never to be broken. He remains a central figure in golf to this day, and the scrutiny is as great as ever with so much on his plate.

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DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Magnitude beat race favorite Forever Young to win the Dubai Gold Cup on Saturday in the first major outdoors sporting event since the outbreak of the Iran War.

The 4-year-old American horse, ridden by Jose Ortiz and trained by Steven Asmussen, successfully resisted a determined effort from Japan’s Forever Young with Ryusei Sakai on board, to win the almost $7 million first prize.

Meydaan was third, followed by Imperial Emperor, both Irish horses.

There was a total of €12 million in prize money for the 9-horse race.

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PARIS (AP) — Senegal players paraded the Africa Cup of Nations trophy in front of thousands of fans on Saturday, despite the Confederation of African Football’s decision to strip the country of the title and award it to Morocco.

Ahead of a friendly match against Peru at Stade de France, Senegal players led by captain Kalidou Koulibaly took to the pitch with the trophy as part of pre-game celebrations.

The Senegalese Football Association had announced it would present the Africa Cup trophy to its fans before the game. Paris has a significant Senegalese community.

Earlier this week in the French capital, Senegalese FA president Abdoulaye Fall said Senegal was the victim of “ the most grossly unfair administrative robbery” in the history of soccer and pledged that the country would defend its players’ “honor” at the Swiss-based Court of Arbitration for Sport.

Senegal is challenging CAF’s surprise ruling last week to strip the team of the title won in a chaotic final in January and give it to host nation Morocco.

Senegal’s legal team said the country still considers itself the champion of Africa. The CAF ’s appeals board ruled that Senegal is “declared to have forfeited the final” and its 1-0 win in extra time became a 3-0 default win for Morocco. The rationale was that Senegal players led by their coach had left the field in protest when Morocco was awarded a penalty, leading to a 15-minute stoppage.

Senegal’s appeal to be reinstated as champion was registered this week by CAS, which set no timetable for a likely long process toward a verdict. The appeal was promised by the Senegalese government, which also called for an international investigation “into suspected corruption” within CAF.

An appeal to CAS can typically take months to schedule a hearing then weeks or months more to announce a verdict. Senegal’s lawyers, however, will ask CAS to open an expedited procedure and hope the Moroccan federation and the CAF agree so that the case can be dealt with within two months.

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FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — UConn coach Geno Auriemma is ripping the double-regional format being used in the women’s NCAA Tournament, saying it doesn’t make sense for the teams still playing or in efforts to grow the game.

Auriemma brought up attendance, bad shooting percentages and teams having to come to the arena early and late on the same day when taking aim at the format that is in place for the fourth year, and set to continue for at least five more.

“Well, I think the first question you’d have to ask is why did they go from four to two. What was the rationale?” the 12-time national champion coach said Saturday. “If they can explain it legitimately and then prove that it works, then great. So what was the reason?”

NCAA officials didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

The defending national champion Huskies (37-0), the overall No. 1 seed, play Notre Dame (25-10) in the Fort Worth Regional 1 final Sunday.

The Huskies held their required media availability Saturday morning, after the Fighting Irish had already completed their session and before two Sweet 16 games in the Fort Worth Regional 3 were played at Dickies Arena. UConn and Notre Dame both had scheduled practice times there later in the evening.

“So we had to get our kids up, come over here. You already knew who we were playing last night, but we can’t get on the court, and neither can the other teams,” Auriemma said. “Does anybody who makes these decisions ever ask the coaches and the players, hey, does this work?”

Auriemma, the winningest men’s or women’s NCAA basketball coach with 1,287 victories, didn’t wait for a question to share his thoughts on the format, opening his session by listing the following numbers: 4 for 20, 4 for 22, 1 for 17, 5 for 17, 4 for 16, 7 for 26.

“That’s the 3-point shooting yesterday across the country. How many arenas are we going to sell out with that (expletive)?” he said. “Now, maybe it was just a bad day shooting by everybody. These are all teams that average probably 30, over 30, for the season. Know what time our shootaround was yesterday? Six in the morning, 6:20, I think, for half an hour.”

He also mentioned the total combined announced attendance of 18,821 at the two venues Friday, in Fort Worth and Sacramento, California.

Auriemma said there is a lack of input from coaches, and said nothing changes even though the NCAA sends representatives to schools every year after the tournament.

“Hopefully I’m speaking for the other coaches. Some coaches might think I’m full of it. And this is not about UConn. I hope everybody understands that,” he said. “This is not about us, because you know, we’ve managed to go to the Final Four and win national championships no matter where they’re played, when they’re played, what time they’re played, whatever.

“I think there is a level of frustration right now among the coaches that’s higher than any time I’ve ever seen it.”

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PRAGUE (AP) — Ilia Malinin is back on the top step of the podium.

Six weeks after a disastrous skate knocked the Olympic gold-medal favorite off the podium, the “quad god” reeled off one huge jump after another, and a backflip for good measure, to retain his world championship title for the third year running.

Malinin shouted and punched the air with relief after finishing a skate that showed he had achieved his desire to “move on” from the Olympics after days tormented by his mistakes.

He praised the crowd’s support, saying: “It was really challenging, really hard but with you guys I was able to make it through.” His aim, he added, had simply been to get through the free skate “in one piece.”

Skating last after leading the short program, just as he did in Milan, Malinin landed five high-scoring quadruple jumps but not his pioneering quad axel, a jump he didn’t attempt at the Olympics.

Malinin scored 218.11 in the free skate for a total 329.40, far ahead of silver medalist Yuma Kagiyama of Japan on 306.67. Another Japanese skater, Shun Sato, was third on 288.54.

Kagiyama beat his personal-best free skate score but still had to make do with a fourth career world championship silver in a career which includes four Olympic silvers and five total worlds medals, but no gold from either event. He still embraced Malinin after his skate and they jumped together in celebration.

In a showcase of top-level skating, there was no podium spot for France’s Adam Siao Him Fa, who had been in second after the short program but dropped to fifth overall after a fall. Estonia’s Aleksandr Selevko also fell dropped from third to sixth.

Malinin had no rematch with Mikhail Shaidorov, the skater from Kazakhstan who won the Olympic gold, because he opted against competing again this season.

That’s relatively common in figure skating for gold medal winners who face a rush of media and commercial opportunities after a grueling four-year Olympic buildup.

Malinin becomes the first skater to win three consecutive men’s world titles since fellow American Nathan Chen, who achieved the feat in 2018, 2019 and 2021 after the 2020 event was canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The last competition of the championships is the free dance portion of the ice dance event later Saturday. France’s Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Guillaume Cizeron are in the lead after Friday’s rhythm dance.

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AP sports: https://apnews.com/sports