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FONTANA, Calif. -- A week removed from finishing at the back of the field, Dale Earnhardt Jr. had a third-place result in his sights.

"I thought right at the end we were the third-best car," Earnhardt said after Sunday's race in Fontana, California. "We had a great day, lot of fun, fun racetrack, awesome crowd we had here."

While he ultimately finished just outside of the top five, taking home a sixth-place result, Earnhardt was pleased with the effort.

"We're just glad to be able to rebound," he said. "Last week was very dismal, disappointing and frustrating. So, again, glad to be able to come here, run good and run strong."

With two laps remaining in the race, Earnhardt was in third, but debris on the track caused a caution and set up a green-white-checkered attempt.

On the restart, Earnhardt's path to the front was blocked by a competitor without fresh tires, and when debris caused another caution, he found himself back in 11th.

"All these things show up when I don't want them to," Earnhardt joked of the debris.

But on the second and final green-white-checkered attempt, he battled all the way back into the top five before finishing sixth.

And he did so in front of a sold-out crowd.

"It's a great racetrack. A great racetrack," Earnhardt said. "It's a lot of fun. Single-race market; filling the stands up, and they got a great race (Sunday). This is a great example of what we should see across the series."

The driver of the No. 88 Nationwide Chevrolet SS noted that the team's pit stops were "great" all afternoon, and felt the team could build on the performance as the Sprint Cup Series heads to Martinsville next weekend.

"I'm surrounded by a bunch of great guys, a great crew," he said. "Look forward to getting to the next race. We want to get a win, get that in the bank if we can."