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CONCORD — Crew chief Rodney Childers didn't consider it a gamble to keep David Reutimann on the track while the leaders pitted during a late caution in Monday's Coca-Cola 600.

Yet it turned into the winning move.

Reutimann was 14th when the caution came out on lap 222 for rain. He inherited the lead when the top 13 cars came in for pit stops. Five laps later, the race was stopped for rain and would never resume, giving Reutimann his first career NASCAR Sprint Cup victory.

"I told him, 'Hey, we're running 14th and to make the adjustments we need to make, we're going to lose four spots on pit road and come out 18th,' " Childers said. "There's (26) cars on the lead lap. So, we either take a chance on winning this deal or we restart (26th)."

While Reutimann benefited, Kyle Busch didn't. Busch, who led a race-high 173 of the 227 laps, pitted and finished sixth.

So why pit with radar showing rain in the area and even more expected to arrive?

"We knew it was coming," Busch said. "We knew it was here, but we weren't going to be able to ride around under caution for more than five laps. That was all we had of fuel left. We had to come down and put gas in it."

BIG BOOST: Rookie Joey Logano's ninth-place finish was his third top-10 in the last four races, giving him momentum he lacked early in the year.

"Confidence lately has gone up to the moon," said Logano, who turned 19 on Sunday. "I think since Darlington is really when it stepped up a ton for me."

Logano says one key is that the team is going off notes based on what Logano is saying about the car more often as opposed to what they had from previous years with Tony Stewart.

"We've been testing and getting to know each other better,"

Logano says. "All that kind of adds to it."

Logano climbed five spots to 25th in the season standings with the finish.

POINTS: Jeff Gordon remains the points leader despite finishing 14th. He holds a 44-point advantage on Tony Stewart, who finished 19th. The top five remain unchanged with Kurt Busch third (115 points behind Gordon), Jimmie Johnson fourth (128 back) and Denny Hamlin fifth (147 behind).

GOING DOWN: Dale Earnhardt Jr. finished a season-worst 40th as he struggled with handling all race. Earnhardt's performance dropped him a spot to 19th in the season standings. He fell to 203 points out of 12th — the final transfer spot to the Chase.

RIDE CHANGE: Mike Skinner, Patrick Carpentier and Brian Simo will share driving duties for Tommy Baldwin Racing. They replace Scott Riggs.

The team announced that Riggs would leave after Monday's race. Riggs finished 38th.

Skinner will drive in 17 of the remaining 25 races. Carpentier and Simo will split duties in the other races.

PIT STOPS: Lowe's Motor Speedway officials are offering any fan who purchased tickets for the Coca-Cola 600 a 10 percent discount on tickets for the track's Oct. 17 Cup race. ... Carl Edwards' fourth-place finish was his first top-five finish since Atlanta in March. ... Brian Vickers' fifth-place finish tied his season-best.

Contact Dustin Long at 373-7062 or dustin.long@news-record.com