(NASCAR)—Joplin driver Jamie McMurray’s second straight top-ten finish moves him a little farther from the danger zone in the competition to make the final ten-race run for the NASCAR championship.

nascar-cup-loudon-2016-jamie-mcmurray-chip-ganassi-racing-chevrolet[1]McMurray has followed up last week’s seventh place finish with a sixth at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon, NH.  McMurray ranks fifteenth in the standing but has built a 41- point cushion over the first driver outside the potential Chase field with seven races to go before the 16-driver list of championship contenders is set.

Columbia’s Carl Edwards ran in the top ten much of the day but wound up 20th. The race was won by Edwards’ teammate Matt Kenseth, whose car failed a post-race inspection.  He’ll keep the win but probably will be penalized some standings points later in the week after more inspections are done on the car.

(INDYCAR)—The Power surge continues in IndyCar racing.  Penske driver Will Power has won his third race of the year and has moved into second place in the points after missing the season opener with an ear infection.   Power not trails teammate Simon Pagenaud by 47 points.

He beat another Penske teammate, Helio Castroneves, to the finish line by a second-and-a-half on the temporary road course in the streets of Toronto.   The series has five races left this year.

IndyCar is off next week and races next on the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington, Ohio.

(FORMULA 1)—Formula One returns to the track next week with the Grand Prix of Hungary.  The lap record at the Hungaroring is still held by Michael Schumacher. He set it twelve years ago.  Mercedes teammates Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton are only a point apart in the standings. Third-place Kimi Raikkonen is more than forty points behind.

Schumacher’s manager says the condition of the former F1 champion remains a private family matter.  Schumacher fell while skiing in the French Alps in December, 2014 and hit his head on a rock.  Manager Sabine Kehm said last week that “the private situation is so difficult that unfortunately no insight can be given.”   Last February he told reporters, “We must hope with everything we have, that with continued support and patience he will one day be back with us.”  Schumacher, who won the F1 championship a record seven times, retired as the wealthiest driver of his time.  His family reportedly has sold a private jet and a holiday home in Norway to pay his medical bills.

(Photo credit: Motorsport.com)

–Bob Priddy, Contributing Editor