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Tony Stewart broke his right leg in a sprint car wreck on Monday night at Southern Iowa Speedway. He will miss this weekend's race at Watkins Glen at the very least – road-course specialist Max Papis will fill in – and this almost certainly kills his chances of winning another Sprint Cup championship.

According to Stewart-Haas Racing, a replacement driver for Sunday’s Cheez-It 355 at Watkins Glen International has not yet been determined. Stewart is 11th in the standings, and with one victory this season, leads the race for the first Wild Card in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.

UPDATE: Stewart will undergo a second surgery. According to Stewart Haas Racing, the first surgery "served as a preliminary procedure to stabilize and clean the Grade 2 injury." Stewart remains hospitalized for observation.

"It looked like he got into a lapped car," race winner Brian Brown told The Des Moines Register. "When I got close, he was flipping cage down. I didn't really have time to watch and see what was going on."

Although former NASCAR driver Jason Leffler was killed earlier this year in a sprint-car crash in New Jersey, Stewart maintains close ties to his short-track roots by scheduling roughly 70 sprint car events per year. Friday at Pocono Raceway, Stewart brushed off the Ohsweken accident as routine.

“You guys (in the media) need to watch more sprint car videos and stuff. It’s starting to get annoying this week about that. That was just an average sprint car wreck. When they wreck, they get upside down like that. That was not a big deal,” he said. “… I guarantee you, there were 15, 20 guys across the country who flipped just like that this weekend. We’re just fine. If it’s bad, we’ll let you guys know.”

Stewart of course cancelled a Tuesday testing session at Atlanta Motor Speedway, and the team announced Tuesday that Papis will replace him at Watkins Glen. The team did not reveal how long Stewart will be out.

"I told someone to go get my phone or else I was going to get up and get it myself," Stewart wrote on his Facebook page. "Finally got reconnected to the world and just want to say thank you for all the prayers and well wishes. My team will remain strong and I will be back."

This would be the first Cup race without Stewart since 1998, a string of 521 consecutive starts.

Stewart is currently 11th in the Chase for the Sprint Cup, and with a win does hold one of the wild-card spots. However, missing significant time will likely drop him below fellow one-win drivers Ryan Newman and Martin Truex Jr., who are 10th and 19th points behind Stewart, respectively.
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As Manziel's future college eligibility remains in question in the aftermath of a report that the Texas A&M quarterback accepted money for signing memorabilia, USA TODAY Sports backtracks through the defending Heisman winner's wild offseason.

January: Following A&M's Cotton Bowl win over Oklahoma, he visited the Winstar Casino in Oklahoma for some late-night gambling. He tweeted a photo, which went viral on the web, with friends flashing money. In response to backlash from the photo, Manziel tweeted, "Nothing illegal about being 18+ in a casino and winning money...KEEP HATING!" The night after winning big, he was spotted by TMZ popping bottles of champagne in a Dallas-area club.

 During a July 26 interview for my story on Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel that ran in last week's issue of Sports Illustrated, Manziel briefly mentioned the Alabama autograph incident that made headlines Monday. At the time, the story was one in a series of anecdotes about dealing with the autograph hounds, both amateur and professional, that Manziel had met during his sudden rise to fame in 2012. As Manziel and Aggies receiver Ryan Swope settled into their room at a Hilton in Birmingham, Ala., the day before Texas A&M faced Alabama in Tuscaloosa, Manziel said, an autograph broker with a stack of items wedged his way into the room as Manziel entered.

It was certainly interesting, but it wasn't even the most outrageous story Manziel told on the subject. That one was about a man who dressed in military fatigues who accosted Manziel and his family in a Dallas airport and asked Manziel to sign some Texas A&M helmet decals for troops deployed overseas. Later, the Manziels found that the decals had been affixed to helmets and sold on eBay. That anecdote made the magazine story. The Alabama one didn't.

But the Alabama anecdote gained additional context Monday when the broker claimed to ESPN that after Manziel signed for free, Manziel's friend and personal assistant Nathan Fitch later told the broker that another session would require a fee. Monday, ESPN posted a photo provided by the broker from the Birmingham encounter. ESPN's Joe Schad also reported Monday that the broker declined six phone calls from the NCAA. Sunday, ESPN reported that the NCAA is investigating an accusation that Manziel was paid to sign autographs for a different broker in January in south Florida. Manziel has not responded to requests for comment since ESPN first reported the investigation on Sunday. Fitch also has not responded to requests for comment.

MANDEL: Autograph scandal will follow Manziel regardless of NCAA's findings

But Manziel talked about his meeting with the autograph broker in Alabama during our July 26 interview. Manziel said it happened shortly after the team arrived at its hotel on Nov. 9, as he and teammate Swope were getting settled into their room.

"Alabama game, a guy walks into my hotel room with me," Manziel said. "I opened the door. I had a big bag on my shoulder. I opened the door real wide -- he kind of sticks his foot in the door. He kind of comes in with me. 'Hey man, will you sign this bag of stuff?' Swope is in the bathroom. He walks in and sees me mid-signing this guy's stuff."

I asked Manziel if Swope chased off the broker.

"Swope was like, 'Hey, man. What are you doing in here?'" Manziel said. "He said 'Oh, he said he would sign some stuff for me.' I'm like, 'I mean, I didn't really say I would sign it for you. But I'll do it for you. Get the hell out and it won't be too big of a deal.'"

Manziel offered the anecdote after he discussed his surprise that so many people wanted his autograph and talked about his naiveté, at that time last year, about the autograph and memorabilia industry. At that point in the interview, Manziel moved on immediately to another anecdote about another professional autograph seeker following him home from Texas A&M's football complex later in November as well as two separate anecdotes about professional autograph hunters -- including the man in fatigues -- accosting him as he traveled to an awards show in Orlando, Fla.
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Alex Rodriguez told a news meeting Monday the past seven months had been a “nightmare, probably the worst time of my life” but refused to go into specifics about his suspension by Major League Baseball for the remainder of the current season and all of next year for using performance-enhancing drugs,.
He also said he had to stand up for himself because "if I don't defend myself, no one else will."
 The former superstar was suspended today for 211 games, which would mean, if he loses his appeal, he would not be allowed to play the rest of this year and all of next year, a blow for a declining and increasingly injured player.

Rodriguez, 38, was the only player today to contest his suspension, although the 12 other players received milder disciplines of 50 games.
Although there is $100 million at risk in Rodriguez's punishment, he has already earned $187 million since signing with the Yankees, according to an analysis of data on Spotrac, plus tens of millions more with the Texas Rangers and Seattle Mariners.
Despite the obvious wealth, he battled the league to return to the field tonight against the Chicago White Sox, even though he can expect boos for every time he swings and misses. The New York Post's front page showed a picture of Rodriquez's face today with the headline "Just Go."
In his first at bat Monday night, Rodriguez was roundly booed by Chicago White Sox fans before hitting a bloop single.

If Rodriguez challenges the suspension, his appeal would be heard by arbitrator Fredric Horowitz.
Yankees outfielder Curtis Granderson was excited Rodriguez could play during an appeal.
"I want him back with us. This is arguably one of the best hitters of all time," he said. "Having him in the lineup is obviously going to be very positive for us."

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