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BROOKLYN, Mich. — Dale Earnhardt Jr. exited his car after Sunday's race red faced and huffing and puffing before he slumped onto the pit wall and draped a wet towel around his neck.

"Never worked so hard to run third," he said a few minutes after collecting his breath on the hot day.

Earnhardt's first top-five Sprint Cup finish since late April gave his fans something to cheer, but they should be more excited about how he earned the result.

This was the effort Earnhardt needs every week even as he struggles with the car's nuances. Two days after he said NASCAR needs to change the car to improve the racing — NASCAR President Mike Helton said no major changes are coming — Earnhardt didn't vent and wasn't vexed driving it.

While some will say that Earnhardt's high finish is only because Michigan again was a fuel-mileage race, that's ignoring what he and his team did throughout the day.

What seemed like a lost race — Earnhardt fell from his 15th starting spot to 26th before rain stopped the race briefly on lap 8 — turned into a critical step forward. One of the raps against Earnhardt has been that he can't make the car better as the race progresses. This time, his car and performance improved as the race progressed.

Before Earnhardt fans get overjoyed, they should understand that one race isn't a turnaround. Even after jumping four spots in the standings, he is 21st and won't make the title Chase. He needs to keep working on how to dissect what the car is doing with crew chief Lance McGrew before Earnhardt can be considered a threat to win a race at a track other than Daytona and Talladega.

Earnhardt seems to be getting it, though.

"We just have to study really hard," he said on pit road. "There's a whole lot more to this than just actions. You've got to really know what you're doing and why you're doing it the entire weekend. We're getting better at that."

Earnhardt says he's done a better job of remaining calm in the car. When he worked with crew chief Tony Eury Jr., some of their radio conversations were R-rated rants that drew snickers in the garage. The cousins had such a comfort level that they could yell at each other without taking it personally.

Such a demeanor, though, didn't help Earnhardt in explaining the car's handling. Fellow driver Kyle Busch admits he needs to better control his emotions, acknowledging when he gets upset his feedback shuts down and his team can't help him. Earnhardt has been there.

"I'm my own worst enemy, I guess, in the middle part of a race when I see us not going in the right direction," he said. "I know how difficult and how much of a challenge it is to keep track position. I just get so frustrated.

"Since I started working with Lance (in June), I've been trying to work really hard to be the same person at the end of the race that I am at the start of the race mentally. That really helps them stay focused on their job and working on the car instead of having to control me and my problems."

An example is when Earnhardt felt a vibration and pitted about 10 laps ahead of the leaders near the midway point. He didn't panic. A caution 42 laps from the end also proved pivotal. McGrew feared many cars would pit, so he wanted Earnhardt to stay out and gain track position.

"If we pitted now, we would make it," Earnhardt radioed to McGrew, noting they had to refuel once more before the finish.

"If we pit now, we'll make it," McGrew responded.

"That sounds like a good idea," Earnhardt said.

He stopped. With no cautions during the final 40 laps, Earnhardt climbed from 17th to third.

"You drove your way up to the front," McGrew radioed Earnhardt in an excited tone after the checkered flag.

"You all made some good changes," Earnhardt responded.

It appears Earnhardt has, too.

Contact Dustin Long at 373-7062 or dustin.long@news-record.com