It's not hyperbole: Andrew Luck's stunning decision to move on from the NFL is the most shocking retirement American pro sports has seen since Michael Jordan left the NBA in 1993. The circumstances are obviously different, and we've seen players like Barry Sanders and Calvin Johnson leave the game earlier than anybody would have expected, but 29-year-old quarterbacks in the prime of their careers just don't get up and leave. This isn't a franchise-altering decision. It alters the entire complexion of the NFL.

To put this in context, by Pro Football Reference's Approximate Value statistic, there have been two players in NFL history who have posted a better season in their final NFL campaign than the Indianapolis Colts quarterback and then retired by choice before turning 30. One is former Vikings running back Robert Smith, who ran for 1,521 yards at age 28 before moving on. The other is Jim Brown. No quarterback has made the Pro Bowl in a season during his 20s and then immediately retired since Johnny Lujack, and if that name doesn't ring a bell, it's because Lujack retired in 1952.

There are players who retired before turning 30 after serious injuries, and perhaps it's unfair to leave Luck out of that group. He played through a shoulder injury in 2015 and 2016 before missing all of the 2017 season after undergoing surgery, and while Luck was excellent upon his return in 2018, he has struggled with a calf injury all offseason. In both cases, the organization expected him to return in a matter of weeks. In both cases, again, Luck's body didn't respond the way either he or the team expected. He was facing down another uncertain rehabilitation of any injury which seemed to linger months after it should have gone away. Some players have bodies that tell them it's time to give up the game in their mid-30s. Luck's body gave way years earlier.

Even given the prospect of Luck missing regular-season action with an injury which had seemed to transform into a high-ankle sprain, the Colts couldn't have expected that he would decide to leave the sport. Luck had talked about being scared of his future in football while recovering from that shoulder surgery in 2017, and every player deals with both mental and physical exhaustion from playing in the NFL, but few have the privilege and power to leave on their own terms. Luck had both and is moving on. The Colts now have to deal with the repercussions.

The post-Luck Colts

In the short-term, the Colts are devastated by this decision. Even if you assumed Luck was going to miss the beginning of the regular season, Indy was still favorites to win the AFC South and compete for a Super Bowl. The Caesars sportsbook moved Indianapolis' odds of winning the Super Bowl from 12-1 to 30-1. The Colts have gone from favorites to win the AFC South at -135 (a 57.5% implied chance of winning the division) to underdogs at +210 (32.3%). Every likely AFC playoff contender and the three other teams in the AFC South benefits.

The Colts held out quarterback Jacoby Brissett from their preseason game against the Bears on Saturday night, and while it seemed like they were just protecting their potential Week 1 starter, the significance of his role with the team has become clear. Indy will move forward with the former backup to Tom Brady as the starting quarterback and either Chad Kelly or Phillip Walker as their backup. There are a paucity of veteran options available on the free-agent market, especially after Josh McCown unretired to sign a one-year deal with the Eagles.

The Colts could attempt to sign someone like Matt Cassel to back up Brissett. If they're unsure about Brissett or want to add another option, they could head to the trade market for someone like Ryan Fitzpatrick, Case Keenum or Nick Mullens, but their hopes for the season realistically now rest upon a quarterback who threw all of four passes behind Luck in 2018.

The Colts acquired the former third-round pick Brissett in a swap of likely cuts with the Patriots just before the 2017 season, sending Phillip Dorsett to New England in return. He quickly moved into the starting lineup for a Colts team that was realistically going nowhere in Chuck Pagano's final season at the helm and played the way you might expect a backup passer to perform. Brissett was surprisingly effective on deep passes, but given a porous offensive line and middling receivers, he completed just 58.8% of his passes and averaged 6.6 yards per attempt, both figures comfortably below league-average.

Brissett threw just seven interceptions and added some value as a runner, but when you factor in his 10% sack rate and the generous game states he usually worked under, the North Carolina State product posted a Total QBR of just 43.3 in 2017. That ranked 27th among 30 qualifying passers and placed him squarely between Jay Cutler and DeShone Kizer, neither of whom kept their starting jobs in 2018. Brissett performed admirably given that he was thrust under center for an NFL team eight days after being acquired -- and Indy reportedly refused to consider offseason trade talks for Brissett even when they had Luck back on the roster -- but Brissett's 2017 season offers the Colts more hope than proof.

There are reasons to think he will be better in his second go-around as the starter. For one, he won't be switching teams at the end of training camp and learning a new playbook on the fly. Brissett spent all of 2018 working underneath debuting head coach Frank Reich, who molded his scheme to take advantage of Luck's strengths. Indy wasn't quite able to do that for Brissett under Pagano. The Colts' new starter should have better coaching with Reich at the helm, and they still have a little over two weeks before their Week 1 trip to face the Chargers. Reich was unquestionably thinking and beginning to gameplan around what his offense might look like with Brissett as the starter, at least to begin the season. Now, those preparations will be permanent.

Indianapolis also has a much more effective offensive line than the one which struggled to protect Brissett in 2017, although it's also fair to pin some of the blame for those sacks on Brissett himself. In two starts and 55 pass attempts with the Patriots, Brissett was sacked on 9.8% of his dropbacks, far higher than that of Brady (3.4%) and Jimmy Garoppolo (4.5%) over the same time frame. Reich will need to focus on getting the ball out of Brissett's hands quicker than it has in years past.

Independent of what happens in 2019, general manager Chris Ballard now unexpectedly faces the most important offseason of his career. Brissett will be a free agent. The Colts are in excellent cap shape, but they'll owe a total of $18.8 million in dead money for Luck, with $12.4 million due in 2019 and the remaining $6.4 million on their cap in 2020. In what was a surprise to some, Ballard didn't use the more than $100 million the Colts had in cap space this offseason to go on a spending spree, preferring to focus on the team's culture while staying selective with his signings. There's no way Ballard could have known what was going to happen next, obviously, but the Colts might have found it easier to attract top-level talent with Luck as their quarterback than they will with Brissett -- or someone else -- as their signal-caller.

The prospects of any team finding a quarterback in free agency are always slim. The pool theoretically includes Brady, Drew Brees and Philip Rivers, but it would be a true shock if any of those passers ever played a down for another organization. Both Marcus Mariota and Jameis Winston are projected to be free agents, although they'll be retained via the franchise tag or an extension if they impress this season. The third tier includes passers with various red flags, including Keenum, Teddy Bridgewater and Eli Manning.

Indy might also look toward the trade market. The Vikings will have one year left on Kirk Cousins' deal, and if they don't make the playoffs with their wildly expensive free-agent addition, Minnesota might prefer to keep the core of its team together by trading Cousins and drafting a quarterback. Likewise, if the 49ers are more impressed by Nick Mullens than Jimmy Garoppolo this season, they could choose to ship their own expensive passer off to Indianapolis.

If the Colts do struggle under Brissett, they may find an alternative path to a quarterback. No franchise has enjoyed the quarterback fruits of the draft for a longer, uninterrupted stretch of time than the Colts, who managed to come away with two franchise passers by timing their bad seasons impeccably.

After the 1996 season, Peyton Manning surprised the Jets by choosing to stay at Tennessee for his senior season. The Colts, who were a wild-card team in 1996, fell to 3-13 in 1997 and subsequently drafted Manning with the first overall pick in 1998. Likewise, despite the chances that the Panthers would have taken him with the first pick in the 2011 draft, Luck decided to pass on his draft eligibility and spend another year at Stanford. A 10-6 Colts team would have had no shot at Luck, but after Manning went down injured and Indy went 2-14, the team fell in prime position to draft Luck with the first pick of the 2012 draft.

I'm not suggesting that the Colts should tank -- I'm not sure it's a viable plan for any NFL team -- but the Colts just suffered a massive downgrade at quarterback and rode an antiquated Tampa-2 defense last season. With the emotional impact of the Luck injury, it's not crazy to imagine them falling into the top five of the 2020 draft and having a shot at someone like Oregon's Justin Herbert, who also passed up a chance to enter the draft and instead chose to return to school for his senior season. (Tua Tagovailoa doesn't have quite the poetry of the Herbert story for the Colts, but he's also draft-eligible for the first time in 2020.)

The Colts looked incredibly well-prepared for the future after making the playoffs in 2018 with Ballard, Reich and Luck as the core of their operations on and off the field. Two of those three pieces are still in place. From an organizational perspective, though, the Colts had the most important position in sports filled by a superstar with years left in his prime, and he's gone. I have more confidence in Ballard and Reich than I would in most coach-GM combinations, but the Colts have had a no-doubt solution at quarterback for 20 straight years. Now, there's just doubt.

The Post-Luck NFL

Whenever a player retires prematurely in the NFL, given what we know about the dangers of playing football, there's understandably a conversation about whether it represents a trend. Given that there really aren't many comparables for Luck's decision historically, it's difficult to place his decision in line with the choices made by backs like Robert Smith and Barry Sanders or more recent decisions made by Calvin Johnson or Chris Borland.

I think Luck is a unique player in many ways. Few players would brag about their Settlers of Catan skills, start a book club, or splurge with the money from their contract extension to buy a robot ping-pong machine. When Luck missed the 2017 season, he rehabbed in the Netherlands for months. He spent chunks of his childhood growing up in London and Frankfurt. We know more about quarterbacks and their habits than we do about players at other positions, but it's also clear that Luck has thought about his life outside of football during his career. He has every right to pursue those interests while still young.

The idea that Luck is somehow slacking off or taking the way easy out by giving up on his dream is low-rent talking head trash, and it's not worth your time. If you feel that way, read about what Luck played through during the 2016 season or check what actual NFL ex-players have said about Luck's decision. The idea that he shouldn't be upset about his choice because he made just over $100 million as a pro quarterback should be ridiculous for obvious reasons -- Luck just devoted a decade of his life to a sport he no longer feels physically capable of playing -- but it does afford him the choice of avoiding another grueling rehabilitation period.

It's fair to mention that Luck is operating from a position of privilege in making this decision, although using that to imply his decision was easy is naive or disingenuous. It's easy to think about what the stars of the game make, but there are countless players every year on the fringes of rosters who play through pain and undergo surgeries to try and eke one more year out of their careers for far less money than Luck would have earned in 2019. Some of those players would likely choose to retire if they had Luck's career earnings to fall back upon. I bring that up not to imply that Luck's decision was tough, but instead to suggest that other players aren't likely to follow in his footsteps unless they have a similar nest egg. In a league which has repeatedly placed an importance on keeping quarterbacks healthy, that goes even further for signal-callers like Luck.

I hope Luck is at peace with a difficult decision. Selfishly, of course, I wish he was sticking around. I'll never forget the comeback Luck led against the Chiefs in the 2013 playoffs, leading a team which was down 38-10 in the third quarter to a 45-44 victory, with Luck throwing for 443 yards, four touchdowns, and even recovering a fumble for a five-yard score. Luck was so good in close games that he seemed to break accepted conventions of analytics and managed to run three straight mediocre Colts teams to the playoffs to start his career. He was saddled for years with a general manager who failed on virtually every one of his major trades and draft picks after acquiring Luck and then blamed Luck's contract extension for his inability to improve the defense. I would have liked to have seen Luck behind his 2018 offensive line and with Reich and Ballard in charge from the first moment he joined the Colts.

If this is really it for Luck, the comparison that comes to mind isn't a football player. It's Mark Prior, the Cubs pitcher who was regarded to have perfect mechanics as he entered professional baseball. Prior shot through the minors in months, was up with the Cubs a year after being drafted, and was an instant star. The Cubs showed little concern with Prior, running him out for five 130-plus pitch outings over his first two seasons in a sport which wasn't yet hyper-focused on pitch counts. He was on the mound for the Cubs during the fateful Steve Bartman moment in 2002, five outs away from the World Series, a 22-year-old seemingly in the first chapters of what would be a legendary career.

Instead, it was the peak. The Cubs lost the game and the series. Prior was never right again, as the "perfect mechanics" weren't enough to overcome his workload. (Prior himself will say his mechanics were never perfect.) His pitching declined and he missed time with injuries in both 2003 and 2004. After 43 dismal innings in 2006, a 25-year-old Prior hit the disabled list and never returned to the majors. He spent the next four years without pitching in organized baseball before returning to the minors and then retiring in 2013.

Likewise, if any quarterback was predestined to succeed, it seemed to be Andrew Luck. He grew up the son of a quarterback and played at Stanford for Jim Harbaugh. By the end of his redshirt freshman season at Stanford, there was chatter that Luck was a future first overall pick. When Luck finally did leave school two years later, he was the best quarterback prospect of his generation. There were no holes you could realistically poke in his profile. He had prototypical size and athleticism. He played in a pro scheme. He had elite arm strength and accuracy. There were no intangible concerns.

Luck was an immediate success, but for everything we knew and projected and hoped would come true, his body just couldn't hold up to the stress. Without a competent offensive line for years, he took too many hits early in his career and faced the repercussions earlier than most. In his hastily arranged farewell press conference Saturday night, Luck said that he had promised he wouldn't put himself through the strain of his 2017 rehab again if he was faced with a similar sort of inexplicably-lingering injury. I'm happy he was able to live up to his promise.

FLAT ROCK, Mich. – Frank Jiovani, Greg Studt, Ian Jezylo and Dennis Whisman Jr. captured Flat Rock Speedway track championships Saturday night.

Jiovani’s second place run gave him his first Flat Rock Late Model crown. Studt cemented his title with a win in the Street Stock feature. Jezylo notched his second title in a row prior to the Saturday event and Whisman became a first-time champion in the Figure 8 class.

The Harris Mechanical Season Championship feature winners on the night were Hayden Sprague (ARCA Moran Chevrolet Late Models), Studt (ARCA DTS Drive Train Specialists Street Stock A Main), Jezylo (DTS Drive Train Specialists Street Stock B Main) and Dennis Whisman Sr. (ARCA Victory Lane Quick Oil Change Figure 8’s). Rookie Sprague scored his first feature win.

MADISON, Ill. – After taking the bulk of the blame for a violent crash last week at Pocono Raceway, Takuma Sato needed something positive to happen.

He got that and much more on Saturday night by winning the Bommarito Automotive Group 500 at World Wide Technology Raceway in a thrilling photo finish over Ed Carpenter.

“The team made this happen,” Sato said as he emerged from his No. 30 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda. “The last couple days, it was tough, but we kept going.”

Sato found himself at the front of the field thanks to a timely caution period on lap 192 when Sebastian Bourdais clipped the turn four wall and spun down the frontstretch shortly after making a pit stop.

The incident happened in the midst of green flag pit stops and Sato, Tony Kanaan and Carpenter were the only drivers who hadn’t yet pitted and found themselves at the front of the field. Josef Newgarden, who had pitted and made his way back onto the tail of the lead lap, was the last car on the lead lap at the time of the caution.

With the caution period serving as protection, Sato, Carpenter and Kanaan all pitted for fuel and tires. Newgarden also pitted for fuel to make sure he could finish the race without another pit stop. The leaders pitting also allowed those who were trapped a lap down – including race-long leader Santino Ferrucci – to get back on the lead lap.

When the race resumed with 40 laps left Sato shot out into the lead as Kanaan ran second ahead of Carpenter and Newgarden. Newgarden soon found himself in a battle with Ferrucci for fourth, allowing Kanaan and Carpenter to pull clear of Newgarden.

Kanaan and Carpenter were able to stay within a second of Sato throughout the final run, yet it appeared neither were able to close the gap on the leader. With five laps left that changed as Carpenter dispatched Kanaan out of turn four and quickly gapped him as he began his pursuit of Sato.

With two laps left Carpenter had caught Sato and the race was on for the lead. Carpenter closed in on Sato over the final two laps and took his shot at the exit of turn four on the final lap. Carpenter got to Sato’s outside, but Sato had just enough momentum to beat Carpenter to the finish line by .0399 seconds.

The victory is Sato’s second this season and couldn’t have come at a better time for the Japanese driver, who took most of the blame for a violent five-car crash last week at Pocono Raceway on the opening lap of the ABC Supply 500.

“Obviously today was a little lucky in terms of strategy, but we were fast,” Sato said. “We made it happen today. Really a big thank you to the team. Incredible team.”

Carpenter said he only needed a few more feet to beat Sato to the checkered flag.

“Just needed a little more time to get Takuma,” said Carpenter, who was making his final start of the season for his own Ed Carpenter Racing team. “Even if the straightaway was a little further down I think we would have been good. It’s a good way for me to finish my driving season.”

Kanaan finished third, his first podium finish for AJ Foyt Racing and first since 2017.

Ferrucci finished fourth after nearly wiping out Newgarden in the final corner. Ferrucci ran up the track after a failed attempt to pass Kanaan, then drove his car back down into the racing line, forcing Newgarden to take evasive action and spin coming out of the fourth turn.

Newgarden ended up crossing the line in seventh behind Ferrucci, Simon Pagenaud and Conor Daly. Newgarden now holds a 38-point lead in the NTT IndyCar Series standings over Pagenaud with two races left on the schedule.

Ryan Hunter-Reay, Colton Herta and Marco Andretti completed the top-10.

Earlier this week, San Francisco 49ers quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo vowed that he would "stand up and fight" after a rough week that culminated in a passer rating of 0.0 on Monday night in Denver.

On Saturday night against the Kansas City Chiefs, Garoppolo came out swinging and in the process alleviated some of the concern that followed his difficult outing against the Broncos.

Garoppolo played the entire first half, a total of 37 snaps, and finished 14-of-20 for 188 yards with a touchdown and no interceptions for a passer rating of 116.2. He also helped wipe away some of the residue of Monday's game and the five-interception practice that preceded it five days earlier.

"He got to play longer," coach Kyle Shanahan said on the game broadcast on KPIX TV in San Francisco. "He got a few more opportunities."

Garoppolo's bounce-back performance just so happened to come in the same stadium where he suffered a torn left anterior cruciate ligament on Sept. 23 of last season.

On Thursday, Garoppolo acknowledged that it would be a bit "weird" being back at Arrowhead Stadium -- a coincidence that Shanahan said would be "eerie" for his quarterback. He also wanted to focus on erasing the Denver game.

"At some point you have to move on," Garoppolo said Thursday. "You're still trying to correct those mistakes and not make the same mistakes twice, but if you just dwell on the past and dwell on that one game, you're going to get stuck there and have no success going forward. I think it's good to be hard on yourself, but at some point you have got to move forward."

After missing on his first throw and having another wiped out by a holding penalty on Kansas City, Garoppolo hit wideout Kendrick Bourne for 18 yards, the first positive gain on a throw for Garoppolo in this preseason.

From there, Garoppolo seemed to settle in and find a rhythm. On the Niners' second drive, Garoppolo completed all four of his passes for 75 yards, including a perfectly placed pass down the right sideline for a gain of 33 yards on third-and-3.

On the next play, Garoppolo floated a pass down the left sideline that running back Matt Breida made a difficult diving catch on for a 20-yard touchdown.

Before his night was over, Garoppolo even took his first sack since the injury, as Kansas City's Frank Clark dropped him for a loss of 7 yards to end the offense's third possession.

Garoppolo and the first-team offense capped their final two drives with 29- and 35-yard field goals from kicker Robbie Gould before handing over quarterback duties to backup Nick Mullens.

The 49ers went on to win 27-17.

Saturday's start likely will be the end of Garoppolo's preseason. Shanahan has previously said he does not intend to play Garoppolo or most of the starters in the preseason finale.

CRAWFORDSVILLE, Ind. – Eli Tomac capped his championship season in the Lucas Oil Pro Motocross 450 class with a victory in the season-ending TACYC Stability Cycle Ironman National from Ironman Raceway on Saturday.

The first 450 class moto saw Ken Roczen and Joey Savatgy battle side-by-side coming to the holeshot, with Savatgy just narrowly getting the advantage. However, Roczen pushed his Honda into the lead immediately and looked to open a gap on the field. Behind the lead pair, newly crowned champion Eli Tomac slotted into third aboard his Monster Energy Kawasaki, while Marvin Musquin gave chase from fourth.

The Kawasaki teammates engaged in a battle for second for a couple laps and kept Roczen within reach throughout. Eventually, Tomac made the move around Savatgy, which allowed him to settle into a rhythm to try and close in on the lead. A couple laps later Musquin got by Savatgy for third and began his quest to track down his primary rivals up front.

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The leaders found themselves mired in lapped traffic early on, which ultimately played a significant role as the moto continued. Tomac successfully closed in on Roczen and applied heavy pressure for the lead, but lapped riders put some distance between them and also allowed Musquin to close in from third.

Throughout the second half of the moto the top three sat within mere bike lengths of one another in what became the most competitive moto of the entire season. Lapped traffic continued to alter the pace of all three riders, which saw the distance between each of them fluctuate each and every lap.

With mere minutes left in the moto, Musquin was able to take advantage of Tomac’s pass on a lapper to dive to the inside and steal second. He then chased Roczen for a lap before making another impressive pass as they came to take the 2-lap board. Once by, Musquin was able to establish a bit of a gap on Roczen, but the German battled back on the final lap.

He attempted to make a pass on the final turn, but Musquin prevailed with an impressive moto win that saw him move from third to first in a matter of two laps. Roczen finished second, seven tenths back, while Tomac followed in third. Savatgy earned a career-best moto finish in fourth, with Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Factory Racing’s Zach Osborne fifth.

The 24th and final moto for the 450 class began with Savatgy once again claiming the holeshot, followed closely by Osborne and Musquin. As they battled for the position behind Savatgy, Osborne and Musquin came together which caused Musquin to crash. He was unable to return to the race, ending both his hopes of victory and securing the runner-up spot in the final championship standings.

Savatgy carried on out front, and Tomac was able to fight his way up to second. However, all attention was on Roczen as the German stormed his way from fourth to second before the completion of the opening lap. He continued to push and made the pass on Savatgy on the following lap. Tomac gave chase and was able to pass his teammate for second, while Osborne eventually dropped Savatgy off the podium with a pass for third.

Much like the first moto, Tomac closed in on Roczen and the two multi-time champions traded fast laps, separated by just a handful of bike lengths. Osborne stayed close to keep the lead duo honest. With 10 minutes left in the moto Tomac attempted to mount a challenge, trying alternate lines in his search for a way around.

After a few laps Tomac’s persistence paid off and he made the move by the German. That opened the door for Osborne to apply pressure on Roczen from third. The rookie 450 Class rider made the pass happen and gave chase for the lead.

Tomac dropped the hammer in the closing stages of the moto and stormed to his 11th moto win of the season by 8.1 seconds over Osborne. Roczen held on to finish third.

It’s the sixth overall victory of the season for Tomac (3-1), and the 23rd of his career, which gives him sole possession of fourth on the all-time 450 class wins list.

“Even though the title was clinched it was still a fun day. We came in here with the plan to do the same thing. The mindset was to attack,” said Tomac. “The first lap [in Moto 2] was chaos with Marv [Musquin’s crash] and then Kenny [Roczen] got by. He’s just so good in the early laps. I was able to stay on him and then got by. What a day and what a year.”

Roczen finished in the runner-up spot overall (2-3), while Osborne’s strong performance in the final moto landed him third (5-2).

MADISON, Ill. — For the first time in 1,181 days, Spencer Davis can call himself a winner in the K&N Pro Series again.

One week removed from leading a career-high 137 laps at Bristol Motor Speedway, the Dawsonville, Georgia native took the lead from Sam Mayer on the final green/white/checkered restart into turn one and never looked back, claiming his first victory since May 30, 2016 at Dominion Raceway.

The ultimate winning move was set up by a caution for Josh Fanopoulos blowing an engine off Turn 4. When Davis realized he’d get another shot at the win, he thanked his lucky stars.

“I saw that car blowing up and I’m like ‘someone’s shining down on us trying to get us that win.’,” Davis said. “And when we lined up, I just zoned out, didn’t listen to the spotter or nothing. Like I said in victory lane, tried to channel my inner Dale (Earnhardt).”

And that’s exactly what he did.

“Tried to intimidate (Mayer) a little bit coming to the line,” he said. “The only way you can beat him–the only way I think you can beat this car this year is to make the kid make a mistake. Being a veteran of this series, I feel like I’m exceptional at restarts […] you couldn’t have asked for a better performance right there.”

“I hit my gears better than him and got into (Turn) 1 better,” Davis said. “I know he didn’t give it to me, but it felt like it because I drove that thing in there until I saw Jesus, man. It stuck, and I came out the other end leading.”

Derek Kraus earned his second consecutive runner-up finish, with David Gilliland, Mayer and Parker Retzlaff, making his second career series start, rounding out the top five.

The finish:

Spencer Davis, Derek Kraus, David Gilliland, Sam Mayer, Parker Retzlaff, Ruben Garcia Jr., Jagger Jones, Colin Garrett, Hailie Deegan, Todd Souza, Takuma Koga, Josh Fanopoulos, Chase Cabre, Travis Milburn, Tanner Gray, Brittney Zamora, John Wood, Trevor Huddleston, Max McLaughlin.

SPEED SPORT Contributor Nicholas Dettmann recaps Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series CTECH Manufacturing 180 from Road America.

Robert Lewandowski scored a hat trick and Philippe Coutinho made his debut as champions Bayern Munich cruised to a 3-0 victory at Schalke on Saturday for their first win in the Bundesliga this season.

The 31-year-old Poland forward grabbed his first goal with a 20th-minute penalty and added another with a superbly taken free kick five minutes after the restart.

He completed his ninth Bundesliga hat trick in the 75th to take his season tally to five goals in two league matches.

Bayern, who stumbled to a 2-2 draw in their opener against Hertha Berlin, are on four points, two behind leaders Borussia Dortmund, who won 3-1 at Cologne on Friday.

"I can play even better. I have the potential to further improve," Lewandowski, who is close to signing a contract extension, told reporters. "You can win some matches alone, but with the team you win titles."

"The Bundesliga is no easy league and that is why we constantly have to be ready. I was ready and happy to have helped the team," he said.

The striker has now converted 24 of his 27 Bundesliga penalties while also scoring 16 goals in 19 league matches against Schalke.

His second goal looked to be a wake-up call for Schalke who grabbed control of the game and were unlucky not to be awarded a penalty for a handball by Bayern's new signing Ivan Perisic.

Their revival was short-lived, however, and Lewandowski put the game beyond them when he controlled the ball at the edge of the box before completing his hat trick with a clinical finish.

Coutinho, Bayern's biggest signing for the season, also came on in the second half for his first appearance on German soil after joining on loan from Barcelona and told reporters he was honored to play next to a "legend" like Lewandowski.

"It's amazing to play alongside him. He's a legend," Coutinho said. "He's a great player, a great guy. I have been here for three or four days, and I saw his qualities right in the training. Today, he scored a hat trick."

In his first 30 minutes of Bundesliga football, Coutinho added up 36 touches and played 28 passes from his position in Bayern's central midfield.

In front of his family attending the match at the sold-out Veltins Arena, he came close to a flying start in Bundesliga after Lewandowski set him up with a through ball, but Schalke keeper Alexander Nubel rushed out of his goal to reach the ball before Coutinho.

Still, he was delighted and said: "It was amazing. I was looking forward to my first match here. And the stadium was full. I am just very happy."

Reuters and ESPN FC correspondent Stephan Uersfeld contributed to this report.

INDIANAPOLIS -- In a shocking development, Indianapolis Colts quarterback Andrew Luck announced his retirement from the NFL on Saturday night, saying constant injuries have taken away his love for the game.

Luck, who turns 30 on Sept. 12, had met with Colts owner Jim Irsay earlier to tell him of the decision.

The Colts played their third preseason game Saturday night in Indianapolis against the Chicago Bears. Luck already had been ruled out of the game due to an ankle injury, but he was seen on the sideline, laughing and conversing with teammates.

After the game, Luck announced the retirement decision during an impromptu news conference; he said an official announcement wasn't planned until Sunday afternoon but changed course once news broke during the preseason game.

"I've been stuck in this process," he said, stopping several times to overcome his emotions. "I haven't been able to life the live I want to live. It's taken the joy out of this game ... the only way forward for me is to remove myself from football."

Luck's early retirement ends what started as a promising career for the No. 1 overall pick in the 2012 draft. He led the Colts to the playoffs in each of his first three seasons in the NFL, including back-to-back AFC South titles and the AFC Championship Game in 2014.

But his career took a turn for the worse when he suffered a shoulder injury in Week 3 of the 2015 season. He has missed 26 games, including the entire 2017 season, due to shoulder, kidney and rib injuries. It was during the 2017 season while out that Luck questioned whether he would be able to continue his career.

But Luck returned in a big way last season.

He threw for 4,593 yards and 39 touchdowns to win NFL Comeback Player of the Year and lead the Colts back to the playoffs for the first time since 2015, showing he remained one of the top QBs in the league.

But injuries hit Luck again earlier this year when he suffered a calf strain that kept him out of the team's offseason activities and minicamp. Luck only participated in three days of training camp -- none as a full participant -- before it was announced that he was shutting it down because he had difficulty moving in the pocket.

Luck said on July 30 that he wouldn't return until he was 100 percent healthy, with part of the reason being he still had "emotional scars" from the 2017 season. After not being able to get a clear diagnosis of Luck's injury, Colts general manager Chris Ballard said two weeks ago that the QB was dealing with pain in the high ankle area.

Luck told reporters Saturday night that he first started thinking about retirement two weeks ago.

"I'm in pain; I'm still in pain," he said.

It's stunning news for a Colts team that went to the second round of the playoffs last season and in the eyes of many had a Super Bowl-caliber roster in 2019.

"It's very difficult," Luck said. "I love this team, I love my teammates."

Now, the Colts will turn to Jacoby Brissett, the 26-year-old quarterback acquired from the New England Patriots in 2017.

With Luck dealing with a variety of injuries in 2017, Brissett started 15 games for Indy, throwing for 3,098 yards, with 13 touchdowns and seven interceptions.

Sportsbooks reacted quickly to the Luck news, taking the point spread on the Colts' Week 1 road game at the Chargers off the board and lengthening Indianapolis' odds to win the Super Bowl.

The Colts had been 4-point underdogs to the Chargers. The SuperBook at Westgate Las Vegas moved Indianapolis' Super Bowl odds from 12-1 to 30-1.

Information from ESPN's David Purdum and Adam Schefter was used in this report.