MADISON, Ill. — Denny Hamlin remained perfect in qualifying during the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs, capturing the pole position Saturday at World Wide Technology Raceway.

It’s the 46th career pole and third this season for the Joe Gibbs Racing star, who also qualified first for last week’s playoff opener at Darlington Raceway.

“We made some great adjustments from where we were in practice,” said Hamlin, who turned a 139.190 mph lap in his No. 11 Toyota. “That’s what they did so well last week for qualifying. Now we’ve got great track position and just got to maintain it, and we’ll be in good shape.”

Kyle Larson will start second alongside Hamlin, earning his first top-10 qualifying effort on the 1.25-mile oval east of St. Louis.

Chase Briscoe qualified third, followed by Ross Chastain, Ryan Blaney, William Byron, Tyler Reddick, Christopher Bell and Austin Cindric as playoff drivers took the top nine starting spots for Sunday’s 300-mile race at the track known as Gateway.

It was a notable departure from how the playoffs began at Darlington. Only four championship-eligible drivers finished in the top 10 of the Southern 500, a record low for a playoff opener.

Among the disappointments was Larson, whose 19th at Darlington continued a five-race drought without a top-five finish.

“I think our team needs it more than anything,” the 2021 Cup champion said. “We haven’t been able to celebrate a whole lot, so we will definitely celebrate a front row starting spot at Gateway. It’s been a rough, inconsistent couple of months, so even just qualifying good feels really nice.”

Alex Bowman, who has finished no higher than 13th at Gateway, qualified 25th as the only playoff driver who will start outside the top 20. Bowman is tied with Josh Berry (who qualified 12th) for last in the points standings among the 16 playoff drivers.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The man with more Super Bowl wins than any other coach in NFL history now has his first win as a college coach.

Bill Belichick picked up win No. 1 in college — and No. 334 overall — as North Carolina shrugged off a dismal opening performance Monday vs. TCU and beat Charlotte on Saturday night 20-3.

“It’s great,” Belichick said, “but it’s really about the team. It was disappointing Monday night against TCU, but these guys bounced back — players, coaches, staff, support people — and just got back to work. They were determined to have a better outcome. I’m really proud of what they did. They deserve the credit for tonight.”

After a 48-14 blowout loss that included two defensive touchdowns by the Horned Frogs, Belichick praised the team’s ability to shrug off the performance and focus on the fundamentals.

UNC led 17-3 at the half, rushed for 148 yards, and didn’t turn over the ball against Charlotte. Meanwhile, the Tar Heels’ maligned defense held the 49ers to just 21 yards on the ground, five days after TCU ran for 258.

The news cycle after Monday’s loss had been ugly for Belichick and the Tar Heels — “a lot of negativity from the outside,” he said — including reports from multiple outlets, including ESPN, that scouts from the New England Patriots, with whom Belichick won six Super Bowls, have been banned from North Carolina’s facility.

Belichick confirmed those reports Saturday, saying the decision was in response to a closed-door edict in New England.

“It’s obvious I’m not welcome at their facility,” Belichick said, “so they’re not welcome at ours.”

Belichick has had an acrimonious divorce from New England and owner Bob Kraft since he left the Patriots after the 2023 season, with multiple spats erupting in the media in recent months. Belichick took issue with comments from Kraft that hiring him had been a “big risk,” releasing a statement in July saying that he was the one who took a risk by accepting the job. In a Boston Globe story last month, Belichick appeared to take another swipe, saying that one of the perks of his job at North Carolina is that “there’s no owner, there’s no owner’s son,” the latter a reference to Jonathan Kraft.

On Saturday, Belichick seemed in far better spirits, though hardly effervescent in his celebration.

Asked if the team had given Belichick a game ball to celebrate his first win with the Tar Heels, senior Gavin Gibson laughed and said, “If we’d tried, I think he’d look at us like, ‘Nah.'”

Instead, Belichick pointed to UNC’s determination to wipe the slate clean after Monday’s ugly loss and offer some renewed hope that the Tar Heels wouldn’t roll over.

“It was clear in the locker room and as we got out on the practice field there was a … higher level of determination and commitment,” Belichick said. “That was good to see us improve.”

North Carolina hosts Richmond next week before heading to UCF to close out its nonconference schedule.

BALTIMORE — Jackson Holliday homered with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning to deny Yoshinobu Yamamoto a no-hitter, and the Baltimore Orioles weren’t satisfied with that, rallying for four runs in the inning to defeat the Los Angeles Dodgers 4-3 in a delirious comeback Saturday night.

Emmanuel Rivera won it with a two-run single off Tanner Scott, who also allowed a walk-off homer to Orioles rookie Samuel Basallo the previous night. But the Orioles did the bulk of their damage against Blake Treinen (1-3), who relieved Yamamoto after Holliday’s homer. He gave up a double to Jeremiah Jackson, hit Gunnar Henderson and walked Ryan Mountcastle and Colton Cowser to make it 3-2.

Scott came on with the bases loaded, and Rivera lined a single to center.

According to Elias, the Dodgers are just the second team in the Expansion Era (since 1961) to lose a game in nine innings after carrying a no-hitter through 8⅔ innings. On July 9, 2011, the Dodgers broke up the Padres’ combined no-hitter to win 1-0.

Los Angeles had a win probability of 99.6% with two outs before Holliday’s ninth-inning homer, according to ESPN Analytics.

Yamamoto came within one out of the major leagues’ first no-hitter of 2025. He allowed only two baserunners, both on third-inning walks, before Holliday’s drive. The 27-year-old right-hander tied a career high with 10 strikeouts. He threw 112 pitches, also a career high since coming to the U.S.

Yamamoto was removed after that and received a standing ovation by fans of both teams.

Camden Yards has hosted only one no-hitter since opening in 1992, and it was by another Japanese star. Hideo Nomo threw one on April 4, 2001, for the Boston Red Sox against the Orioles.

Shohei Ohtani hit an RBI grounder in the third. Mookie Betts added a run-scoring single in the fifth and an RBI triple in the seventh.

The Dodgers have not thrown a no-hitter since May 4, 2018, when Walker Buehler, Tony Cingrani, Yimi Garcia and Adam Liberatore pitched a combined effort against the San Diego Padres in Mexico. The last solo no-hitter by the team was Clayton Kershaw’s on June 18, 2014, against Colorado.

The last time the Orioles were no-hit was by Japanese right-hander Hisashi Iwakuma of the Seattle Mariners on Aug. 12, 2015.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.