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AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Michael Jordan calls Denny Hamlin the "mastermind" behind their 23XI NASCAR racing team. Hamlin calls their co-ownership a "perfect partnership."

NASCAR Austin Auto Racing

The team has been nothing shy of perfect behind driver Tyler Reddick so far early in 2026.

Reddick became the first driver in Cup Series history towin the first three racesof the season Sunday. He started the first road course race of the year from pole position, then held off hard-charging Shane van Gisbergen for the victory at the Circuit of the Americas

When Reddick's Toyota zoomed across the finish line, Jordan was celebrating with the pit crew as the basketball Hall of Famer and six-time NBA champion exchanged high-fives and hugs.

Reddick has been seeing a lot of postrace smiles from Jordan — after hewon the Daytona 500and thenagain in Atlanta. Reddick said Jordan reminded him last week that he "does things in threes," referring to Jordan's NBA championships clusters with the Chicago Bulls.

"I was really glad to live up to that standard," Reddick said.

Jordan's having so much fun, he now wants to go for four.

"I'm going to Phoenix," Jordan said, noting the next race on the calendar.

And why not? The team is having a lot of fun on its march through NASCAR history.

Jordan and Hamlin took on NASCAR witha federal antitrust lawsuit. The settlement in December was considered a major legal victory that secured a permanent franchise-style model and ensured the team would remain in business for the long-term.

Jordan gives Hamlin the credit for building the race-winning team on the track, specifically noting Hamlin's pursuit of Reddick as a driver.

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"He's the mastermind," Jordan said. "I just put up the money. Denny's done an incredible job building this team."

Hamlin gave the compliment right back.

"It's a perfect partnership," Hamlin said. "This doesn't work out if he doesn't give me a lot of autonomy."

Hamlin, who also drives for Joe Gibbs Racing, said he wanted to be as hands-on as possible when building the team.

"I wanted to make sure if it failed it was because of something I did," Hamlin said. "This team had three employees working at. We had zero. We didn't buy a team, we just built it."

Bringing in Reddick has proven almost priceless.

The 30-year-old driver raced to his first win with 23XI at COTA in 2023. He was second at Daytona in 2025, but a season that started with such promise ended winless.

Now he seems unbeatable.

"What a dream start for those guys," Hamlin said.

AP auto racing:https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing

Most NFL teams discourage prospects from ending up in jail, but Fernando Mendoza revealed that one team was telling him to try and end up behind bars.

The end goal?

Allowing him to drop a bit in the draft, presumably so that the team could take Mendoza.

The Indiana quarterback is projected to go No. 1 overall after helping to lead the Hoosiers to a national championship this past season, and plenty of NFL teams would do just about anything for the chance to draft Mendoza.

Speaking with CBS Sports on Friday, Mendoza said one team jokingly suggested he get himself arrested to fall down the draft board.

"It was, 'hey, maybe you should get arrested,' and I was a little confused, but then I was like, the slide … so you could slide in the draft," Mendoza responded when asked what the strangest question he'd gotten at the NFL combine was.

Mendoza added later: "So, hopefully I don't get arrested."

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The future NFL star didn't reveal what team it was that made the comment, though he did indicate it was not said during a formal interview.

Mendoza received quite the reception while at the combine in Indianapolis.

The Heisman Trophy winner was given a loud cheer from the fans inside Lucas Oil Stadium last Sunday when he showed up in the building.

Mendoza did not participate in any drills at the combine, but he joined the other quarterbacks on the field during the position group's on-field testing.

Mendoza threw for 3,535 yards and 41 touchdowns this past season, while also throwing just six interceptions.

He was part of the first Indiana football team to win a national championship in the program's history.

The draft will take place from April 23-25 in Pittsburgh, with the Raiders, Jets and Cardinals slated to make the first three picks.

By Nidal al-Mughrabi and Pesha Magid

CAIRO/JERUSALEM, March 2 (Reuters) - Gaza is rapidly running out of its limited fuel supply and stocks of food staples may become ‌tight, officials say, after Israel blocked the entry of fuel and goods into the ‌war-shattered territory, citing fighting with Iran.

Israel's military closed all Gaza border crossings on Saturday after announcing air strikes on ​Iran carried out jointly with the United States. Israeli authorities say the crossings cannot be operated safely during war and have not said how long they would be shut.

FEW DAYS' WORTH OF SUPPLIES

Gaza is wholly dependent on fuel brought in by trucks from Israel and Egypt and a ‌lack of fresh supplies would ⁠put hospital operations at risk and threaten water and sanitation services, local officials say. Most Palestinians in Gaza are internally displaced after Israel's two-year ⁠war with Hamas militants.

"I expect we have maybe a couple of days' running time," said United Nations official Karuna Herrmann, who directs fuel distribution in Gaza.

Amjad Al-Shawa, a Palestinian aid leader in Gaza, ​who works ​with the U.N. and NGOs, estimated fuel supplies ​could last three or four days, ‌while stocks of vegetables, flour, and other essentials could also soon run out if the crossings remain shut.

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Reuters was unable to independently verify those estimates.

Israel's COGAT military agency, which controls access to Gaza, said that enough food had been delivered to the territory since the start of an October truce to provide for the population.

"(The) existing stock is expected to suffice for ‌an extended period," COGAT said, without elaborating. It declined ​to comment on potential fuel shortages.

The truce was part ​of broader U.S.-backed plan to end the ​war that involves reopening the Rafah border crossing with Egypt, increasing the ‌flow of aid into the enclave, and ​rebuilding it.

Hamada Abu Laila, ​a displaced Palestinian in Gaza, said the closures were stoking fear of a return of famine, which gripped parts of the enclave last year after Israel blocked aid ​deliveries for 11 weeks.

"Why is ‌it our fault, in Gaza, with regional wars between Israel, Iran, and America? ​It is not our fault," Abu Laila said.

(Reporting by Nidal al-Mughrabi and Pesha ​Magid; Editing by Rami Ayyub and Tomasz Janowski)

Some of the United States' most important historical documents are beginning a first-of-its kind journey Monday as part of the country's250th anniversarycommemoration.

America 250 Documents Tour

Typically housed in highly controlled vaults under the watch of preservation experts at theNational Archives, documents such as the 1783 Treaty of Paris that formally ended the Revolutionary War and the 1774 Articles of Association that urged colonists to boycott British goods are rarely moved.

But those documents, signed by George Washington, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin and other American revolutionary leaders, will be making their wayacross the countryand put on display for free at local museums.

"It's tangible history, and tangible history inspires," said Jim Byron, senior adviser to the acting archivist of the United States. "These documents have not traveled, and they've certainly not traveled collectively, ever. They are here in vaults."

TheBoeing 737 "Freedom Plane"transporting the documents is just one of many events and activities planned across the country to mark America's upcoming 250th anniversary celebrating the signing of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. A congressionally chartered commission,America 250, and a separate White House-led initiative, calledFreedom 250, are both coordinating events, an overlap that hasfaced some criticismin Washington.

Among the planned activities are afleet of mobile museumsdriving across the country, astory collection initiativeand a Great American State Fair on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. President Donald Trump has even announced plans for a "Patriot Games" sporting event featuring high school athletes and aUFC mixed-martial arts fightat the White House.

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The "Freedom Plane" is scheduled to depart Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport on Monday and head to its first stop in Kansas City, Missouri, where the documents will be transferred to theNational WWI Museum and Memorial.The records include a rare original engraving of the Declaration of Independence printed in 1823 from a copperplate of the original; the Oaths of Allegiance signed in 1778 by George Washington, Alexander Hamilton and other officers of the Continental Army; and a rare draft copy of the U.S. Constitution that includes handwritten notes by the delegates.

Other planned stops will be in Atlanta, Los Angeles, Houston, Denver, Miami, the Detroit suburb of Dearborn and Seattle.

"The reality that these documents are leaving D.C. and coming to the heartland is fantastic," said Matt Naylor, president and CEO of the National World War I Museum and Memorial, where they will be on display for a little over two weeks starting Friday. "There's a lot of excitement about that and a lot of talk in and around the city about what that means."

Naylor said the early response has been overwhelming. Local schools have already booked visits for more than 5,000 schoolchildren.

"That's indicating that there's a lot of enthusiasm for this," he said.

The "Freedom Plane" tour was inspired in part by the "American Freedom Train" that toured 48 states in 1975 and 1976 as part of the country's bicentennial celebration. It carried various pieces of American history, including the original Louisiana Purchase documents, Judy Garland's dress from The Wizard of Oz andJesse Owens'gold medals from the 1936 Olympic Games.

LONDON (AP) — Governments scrambled Monday to help travelers get home after theattack on Iranby the United States and Israel shut down flights through the Middle East.

Philippines Iran

Tourists and business travelers found themselves stuck unexpectedly in hotels, airports and on cruise ships, with no word on when many airports would reopen or when flights to and through the Middle East would resume. Governments told stranded citizens to shelter in place.

Shutdown airports in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Doha — including Dubai International Airport, one of thebusiest in the world— are important hubs for travel between Europe, Africa and the West to Asia. All three were directly hit by strikes.

Qatar Airways said Monday its flights remain suspended, with its next update planned for Tuesday morning while Jordan announced a partial closure of its airspace.

About 30,000 German tourists are currently stranded on cruise ships, in hotels or at closed airports in the Middle East and cannot get back home because of the conflict.

German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said late Sunday that a military evacuation was currently not possible because of the closed airspace.

He said that the government was looking into other options to help bring its citizens home and that everyone should follow advice from German travel agencies and local authorities.

The German Travel Association called on tourists to "remain at their booked hotels as a matter of urgency" and not "make their own way to the airport or to a neighboring country."

Other governments made similar recommendations.

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The Czech Republic is sending two planes to Egypt and Jordan to bring home Czech nationals, Prime Minister Andrej Babiš said. One will pick up 79 Czechs in the Egyptian resort town of Sharm El Sheikh who who want to return from Israel. They are traveling from Israel to Egypt by bus. The other plane will evacuate Czechs from Amman, Jordan. Babiš said there are some 6,700 Czechs in the region.

Four more planes are heading to Muscat and Salalah in Oman to fly home Czech tourists.

In Asia, thousands of travelers were stranded on Indonesia's tourist island of Bali because international flights were cancelled.

Bali's international airport said at least 15 flights, including eight departures and seven arrivals, on routes to Dubai, Doha and Abu Dhabi were cancelled as of Monday afternoon.

Air France canceled flights to and from Tel Aviv, Beirut, Dubai and Riyadh, while carriers from Air India to KLM suspended flights and issued advisories.

Airline data showed 3,197 departing passengers were affected by the disruptions, airport spokesperson Gede Eka Sandi Asmadi said.

U.S. airlines issued travel advisories and upended global transportation roiled the travel sector in financial markets early Monday, including the shares of airlines that fly globally. United, Delta and American all slid 5% to 6% and global hotel chains tumbled. Cruise lines like Carnival fell even harder.

AP writers Kirsten Grieshaber in Berlin, Karel Janicek in Prague, Sam Magdy in Cairo, and Niniek Karmini in Jakarta contributed to this report.

Tyler Reddick became the first driver to win the first three races of a NASCAR Cup Series season, and he did so Sunday by beating one of the greatest road course racers in modern NASCAR history.

Reddick scored the win at the Circuit of the Americas when he held off Shane van Gisbergen on Sunday. After winning the Daytona 500 and a week ago at Atlanta, Reddick became the sixth driver in NASCAR history and the first since Matt Kenseth in 2009 to win the first two Cup races of a given season.

Now he's got the record all to himself.

"In this day and age of Cup racing, the Daytona 500 is so hard to win. It's so hard to survive at [Atlanta] and we were able to do that," Reddick said. "And to be able to hold off Shane at the end of that race to make it three in a row, yeah, it seems just very fitting that we had to go through the hurdles we did, especially the last two weeks, to pull this off."

Reddick won the Daytona 500 by leading only the last lap of the race as 37 of the race's 41 cars were officially involved in a wreck. Over the last two races, Reddick has led 111 of a possible 366 laps.

He won at Atlanta even though he was missing his entire right-front fender following a crash with less than 50 laps to go. He worked his way back to the front of the field and took the lead with two laps remaining from teammate Bubba Wallace ahead of a green-white-checkered finish after a late caution flag.

Sunday, he started from the pole as van Gisbergen started 13th. The former Australian Supercars champion has been incredibly dominant since moving to NASCAR. He won in his first start at the Chicago road course in 2023 and then won five of the six road course races on the Cup Series schedule in 2025 and many of those victories came in dominating fashion.

The road course race he didn't win? The COTA race that Reddick started from the pole.

As the laps ticked down Sunday, Reddick said he had to remind himself that he didn't need to win by a blowout margin. He simply needed to be ahead of van Gisbergen at the finish line.

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"It's so important to just not make mistakes because who knows, Shane could have been playing games, right? Like back off a bit, see if I burn myself up and I back up to him at the end of the race," Reddick said.

"There's just so much going on there. He's just so good on the road courses. Even when I was pulling way, right, it's like, alright, I just didn't let myself think it was over until it was truly over."

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Reddick entered the season with eight career wins and was tied with Alex Bowman and Kyle Petty on NASCAR's career Cup Series wins list. With the victory at COTA, Reddick now has more wins than drivers like Sterling Marlin, Clint Bowyer and NASCAR Hall of Famer Donnie Allison in just 221 starts.

It's a win percentage that's among the best across all active drivers despite a winless 2025 season. After scoring three wins and making the championship race in 2024, Reddick was one of just two drivers to make the 16-driver playoff field in 2025 without a win.

Yet that lack of a win was an anomaly given Reddick's underlying statistics. And it looks even more out of place now. Only seven drivers had more top-five finishes and a better average finish than Reddick did a season ago and no driver completed more laps.

In 2026, Reddick is piling up wins in a NASCAR era designed for no one to dominate. The current Cup Series car is built with spec parts that every team buys from the same suppliers. The margins for advantages are thinner than they've ever been.

That may make Reddick's streak even more impressive. And it's a streak that his 23XI Racing team co-owner Michael Jordan made clear that he wanted him to continue before Sunday's race. Like he was in Daytona and Atlanta, Jordan was in attendance in Austin on Sunday.

"He reminded me early this week, he does things in threes. He expected no less today," Reddick said of Jordan's two runs of three consecutive NBA Finals wins. "I was really glad to be able to live up to the standards that he has for us and be able to deliver three in a row. That was really cool to share that moment with him."

PARIS (AP) — The president ofFormula 1'sgoverning body, the FIA, says it will prioritize "safety and wellbeing" as it decides what to do about upcoming races in the Middle East amid increasinglywidespread conflictin the region.

APTOPIX Bahrain F1 Auto Racing

F1 is scheduled to race next month in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, which have both been hit by attacks in recent days following jointstrikes on Iranby the United States and Israel.

The FIA statement also mentioned the World Endurance Championship, a leading sportscar series that opens its season in Qatar at the end of this month.

"We are in close contact with our member clubs, championship promoters, teams and colleagues on the ground as we monitor developments carefully and responsibly," FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem posted on Instagram on Monday.

"Safety and wellbeing will guide our decisions as we assess the forthcoming events scheduled there for the FIA World Endurance Championship and the FIA Formula One World Championship. Our organization is built on unity and shared purpose. That unity matters now more than ever."

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Ben Sulayem, who is from Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, said "we are deeply saddened by the loss of life and stand with the families and communities impacted," adding that the FIA hopes for "calm, safety and a swift return to stability."

Followingpreseason testingin Bahrain last month, F1 teams and staff are heading to Melbourne for this week's season-opening Australian Grand Prix, despite disruptions to travel.

F1 races in China and Japan later this month before the Bahrain Grand Prix, which is scheduled for April 12, and the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix one week later.

AP auto racing:https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing