Dale Earnhardt Jr. led three laps at Michigan. Credit: Autostock

Showers give Junior elusive top-five at MIS

Moves up two positions to fourth in championship standings

BROOKLYN, Mich. -- While other drivers may have been disappointed when the rains came Sunday at Michigan International Speedway, it was a Five O'Clock World for Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. had his best career finish at Michigan in Sunday's 3M Performance 400. Credit: Autostock

3M Performance 400 Results Pos. Driver Make 1. Kasey Kahne Dodge 2. Carl Edwards Ford 3. Dale Earnhardt Jr. Chevy 4. Greg Biffle Ford 5. Reed Sorenson Dodge 6. Jimmie Johnson Chevy 7. Casey Mears Dodge 8. Jeff Gordon Chevy 9. Kurt Busch Dodge 10. Kevin Harvick Chevy • Complete results, click here • Driver standings, click here Top finishersEarnhardt Jr. and Edwards talk about their day Sign up for TrackPass now BUY THE NEXTEL i836 JUNIOR HAS RIGHTS Dale Earnhardt Jr. has agreed to terms with DEI that give him sole ownership of the trademark rights to his lucrative name.  •   Complete story, click here

"I'll take it," Junior said of his third-place finish, by far his best-ever run on the 2-mile oval. "It's five o'clock. I'm ready to go home. It's no fun waiting and wondering if you're going to get to start again or not. I'd rather they call it and be done with it or put some rain tires on."

Up until Sunday, Earnhardt had never had a "moment in the sun" at Michigan. Despite winning two poles in 13 previous starts, he hadn't cracked the top 10 since finishing seventh in 2003.

"I'm real happy," he said. "I've never really had a good car here, that good anyway, so I'm really excited about coming back here."

On Sunday, Junior ran with the leaders from the beginning. Starting sixth, he quickly slid in behind Jeff Gordon and Kasey Kahne within the first 10 laps and held third until a series of cautions allowed some cars to get out of sequence on pit stops.

Junior moved to the lead for the first time on Lap 60, passing Jeff Gordon immediately following a short caution for rain. Thanks to strong work on pit road, he would not fall out of the top five for the rest of the race. He led again on Lap 80, just as the yellow flag flew for debris, surrendering the lead to Brian Vickers as the leaders headed for the pits.

The rain even turned a possible negative into a positive at the end of the day, when a chassis adjustment on Earnhardt's last pit stop caused the No. 8 Chevrolet to handle poorly.

"Right there in that run, we weren't capable of winning," Earnhardt said. "I'd asked for them to tighten it up and we went too far, so it's kind of good we got the rain shower because we were going to start going backwards there.

"The first couple of runs the car was really fast. We were real good in certain parts of the run, either the beginning or the end, and I was able to take the lead."

Junior said as long as you get the finish you were expecting, having a race shortened by rain isn't such a bad thing.

"If you run up front all day and you get rained out, you want to finish where you were running, or you want to get lucky," he said. "You don't want to be on the receiving end of running in the top 10 and finishing 25th, like Mark [Martin, who finished 27th]. Those are tough to take.

"I guess if you're Carl Edwards [who finished second to winner Kasey Kahne], it's pretty unsatisfying because he's got a good car."