Power Rankings: Smart strategy working out for Reutimann

Updated June 8

A couple of weeks ago, crew chief Rodney Childers told his driver to stay out on the track as rain began to fall at Lowe's Motor Speedway.

David Reutimann has piled up four top 10s in his last 14 races. (AP)

When the 13 drivers in front of him all turned down pit road, it put David Reutimann up front. The rain continued to fall and Reutimann captured his first career victory -- without ever leading a green-flag lap.

Sunday at Pocono, Childers decided to roll the dice once again. After bringing Reutimann in during on a caution on Lap 160, Childers made up his mind that they weren't going to make another stop for fuel if the race stayed green.

And that strategy paid off as one by one drivers had to head to pit road for fuel and Reutimann picked up spot after spot, eventually winding up in third at the checkered flag.

"He has been keeping us up front all year," said Reutimann following the race. "We had a pretty decent car all day, he told us to save, save, save that last pit stop and said we were probably one of the few cars that could make it. There towards the end I think we were all running five seconds slower. We were supposed to be trying to save fuel and it ended up working out.

"This place has never really been all that kind to me. Matter of fact, this time last year I was sitting parked in the middle of Turn 1 and 2 out of fuel and didn't even come back to the start-finish line. Little better deal today."

Reutimann finished 30th after running out of fuel on the last lap in his previous trip to Pocono and before Sunday had never finished better than 19th in four visits to the triangular track. But things have changed for the better for the Michael Waltrip Racing driver this season.

He now has four top 10s through 14 races, matching the total from the first 63 races of his career. He's also in the thick of the Chase hunt, currently residing in the 11th spot. While he expected the team to improve this season, it's not a position he expected to find himself.

"No, not really," Reutimann replied when asked if he thought he'd be a contender for a Chase berth.

"I'm not exactly the most confident guy here, but I knew the potential was there, the way we finished out last year. I was like, 'Man, if we can just do this and do a couple of things a little bit better I think we might be able to do that or at least be in contention to do the stuff.'

"Anyway, it's worked out so far. We have definitely had some races that we would like to forget, but for the most part it's been a pretty good year and it's been pretty productive especially if you look back at the previous years and the results we have had compared to last year, there's just no comparison. In the end I felt like if we did the right things and we were heading in the right direction, I knew the possibility was there, and up to this point, I had not even had the possibility to do that, so I'm pretty happy with everything."

Power Rankings after Pocono: