Jamie McMurray doesn't hide his feelings behind a carefully crafted image. He makes corny jokes -- and laughs at them, himself. He says everything's a thrill, but dons a superspeedway-wide smile that convinces you he means it.

So when he says he was going crazy on Sunday, you should probably believe him. Although, you should probably cut him some slack, too.

The 27-year-old Dodge driver who entered this, his rookie season, already a winner in the Winston Cup Series has had heavy expectations thrust upon him ever since he won last year at Lowe's Motor Speedway in just his second Cup start.

Since then, though, he's gone winless and ranks 21st in the championship standings -- a far cry from the lofty perch last season's rookies enjoyed.

It's understandable that the pressure on him has been great, so when he found himself leading one of the biggest races of the season -- at the historic Indianapolis Motor Speedway, at that -- it's no surprise that he was going a little nuts.

After taking the lead on lap 114 of 160 and darting off to a large lead, he started getting a little antsy.

"Don't talk to me," he shouted at crew chief Donnie Wingo.

Moments later, he screamed: "OK, talk to me, now."

The rook was intimidated by the speedway and having trouble focusing on hitting his marks and pushing his pursuers out of mind.

"I was going crazy, guys," he said afterward. "I was really struggling to stay focused and do what I needed to do."

McMurray was unable to hold onto that lead -- or the one he held for three laps late in the event -- and finished third. But it was his best finish of the season, and it gave the driver a little reminder of the joy he felt last October after his first win.

"It's definitely a big boost," he said. "We're still learning and we've got a long way to go, but we're capable of doing this at any time."

McMurray lost his first lead on lap 133 when he pitted and Ford driver Matt Kenseth stayed out on the track. After Kenseth pitted and the race order reshuffled, McMurray was back on top and led the field to a green-flag restart on lap 145.

	McMurray ran up front and finished a season-high third on Sunday.

Though he was nestled behind lapped cars, McMurray said he felt fine because one of them was Dave Blaney -- who had been strong earlier in the day. But when the green flag fell, Blaney didn't get a good jump and Kevin Harvick made the pass that would get him to Victory Lane.

As Harvick sped by, McMurray had his hands -- or bumper, really -- full with Harvick's teammate Robby Gordon. McMurray said Gordon was all over him and he didn't appreciate it.

"He's a damn menace to society, I think," McMurray said.

"I think Robby picked me up off the ground, and I couldn't turn," he continued. "I was stuck there -- I couldn't go down, I couldn't go up. I was hoping he didn't spin me out."

Gordon didn't, although he did manage to get by McMurray for second. But after another caution came out, McMurray found his way back around Gordon, who ended up sixth.

At day's end, he was frustrated with Gordon, but it couldn't spoil his excitement over his team. McMurray said he isn't concerned about past rookies and how well they performed. He believes he's receiving a great education in big-time stock-car racing and is on his way to bigger things.

And he credits much of that education to Wingo.

"I really feel like he's probably the most underrated crew chief in Winston Cup," McMurray said. "The guy always seems to make the right call. And he's really good -- I mean, a crew chief is a leader and my whole race team really respects him in that Donnie is not the kind of guy that just stands on top of the trailer and yells down, 'Do this.' He'll just come down and do it.

"Not because he doesn't trust them, because he likes working on race cars. My whole team respects him for that and I do."

McMurray sat at Indy after the race, not trying to hide any of his emotions: His disappointment over not winning, his relief over not blowing the lead and then finishing outside the top five, his respect for his crew chief, his optimism for the season.

He thought about what he had just accomplished, and the fact that with the sport as competitive as it is now he may never be so close to winning this race, again. But he didn't talk about regret or anger. He talked about a lesson learned.

"I'm getting better as a driver," he said. "I'm disappointed that we didn't win, but I'm not disappointed in the performance of our team; our pit stops. We performed like a top quality race team today."

And you can believe him on that one, too. He's got the top-three in a Brickyard 400 to prove it.

Rupen Fofaria is a beat writer for The Raleigh News & Observer and a regular contributor to ESPN.com. He can be reached at rfofaria@espnspecial.com.