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When I get racing thoughts, I try to focus on my breath and see if I can do it for a total of five seconds, and this helps me to find some calm. Sometimes the racing thoughts just need to burn themselves out on their own, though. In those cases, I try to just be aware of what is happening and let it happen consciously.
For the early morning insomnia in general, I would do what Martin has been suggesting, which is to not fight it. If you find yourself awake, see if you can be comfortable with the awakeness. It is best if we don’t consider awakeness something to be battled against. If you are not comfortable in bed, then get out of bed. There will be days when you have little sleep. This is just part of the process.
From what I am learning thus far, we just need to (1) maintain the sleep window and (2) focus on staying awake and active throughout the day so that sleepiness can build up. For me it feels like a huge relief just to know that this is a normal process that many people with insomnia go through. When I wake up in the middle of the night, I no longer am in a state of alarm or worry about my lack of sleep–I just let it happen.
