Earnhardt up to 8th in standings

BRISTOL, Tenn. --- It's been a long stretch of struggles for Dale Earnhardt Jr. , who rebounded for a strong finish at Bristol Motor Speedway.

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His reward for his second top-10 finish of the season? Earnhardt is back inside the top eight in points for the first time in 48 races.

Earnhardt overcame a pit road speeding penalty Sunday to finish seventh, pushing him up five spots in the standings to eighth. The last time Earnhardt was this high in the points was the third Chase race of 2008.

So for as thrilled as team owner Rick Hendrick was with Jimmie Johnson 's victory at Bristol, he was equally proud of the progress made with Earnhardt's No. 88 team.

"They've worked really hard," Hendrick said. "That team is really coming together. I'm excited about the rest of the year."

Earnhardt had worked his way to fifth shortly after the halfway point Sunday, but he was called for speeding with 174 laps remaining. The penalty dropped him down to 26th and he was furious about the call. He was slightly rattled as he questioned NASCAR over his in-car radio in an expletive-laden rant.

Crew chief Lance McGrew was able to get the focus back on track, and Earnhardt salvaged the day with his finish.

NOTHING TO SEE: All was calm between the drivers Sunday at Bristol, a place where on-track retaliation is easy and often expected.

But tempers never seemed to boil over, not even when Carl Edwards and Brad Keselowski were near each other.

The two had been the center of attention the past two weeks after Edwards intentionally wrecked Keselowski at Atlanta, triggering a crash that sent Keselowski's car airborne and earned Edwards a three-race probation.

Not only did they succeed in a drama-free day, but they both notched their season-best finishes. Edwards was sixth, Keselowski 13th.

Keselowski's moved up three positions in owners points to 30th, giving him some breathing room from falling below the top-35 mark that guarantees a driver a spot in the race.

MCMURRAY REBOUNDS: Jamie McMurray , who struggled in the three races following his win in the season-opening Daytona 500, had a strong day at Bristol to stop his monthlong slide.

McMurray, who was 17th, 34th and 29th in the three races after the 500, ran inside the top 10 most of Sunday and wound up eighth. It was his highest finish at Bristol since he was seventh in 2004.

"I will say that I haven't run this well here in any of my years at Roush," said McMurray, who had just one top-10 at Bristol in his four seasons driving for Roush Fenway Racing.

"It felt really good to be able to come back."