BRISTOL, Tenn. -- When this race weekend began, David Reutimann was flat on his back in bed, fighting some sort of horrible stomach issue.

He felt bad enough that his team lined up Aric Almirola to stand by as a relief driver for his No. 00 Toyota. Almirola even drove the car during the first portion of the first of two Cup Series practices on Friday before Reutimann showed up at Bristol Motor Speedway to reclaim his driver's seat.

“

It was just one of those deals where we fell a little short, but I'm really proud of everybody.

”

-- DAVID REUTIMANN

Reutimann said then that he would be fine to remain behind the wheel for the remainder of the weekend -- and he stayed true to his word. Reutimann drove it for the rest of the practice laps, qualified fifth for Saturday's Irwin Tools Night Race, and then contended for the victory before finishing second to race winner Kyle Busch.

"We were good," Reutimann said. "We have really good race cars. Hats off to [crew chief] Rodney Childers and all the guys for that, and thanks to Aric Almirola for practicing the car when I couldn't. It was just one of those deals where we fell a little short, but I'm really proud of everybody."

It was Reutimann's best finish by far since leading a season-high 52 laps and claiming his second career victory at Chicagoland on July 10. In the four races between then and Saturday, Reutimann led zero laps and never finished higher than 16th.

The mini-slump caused him to drop from 15th to 18th in the point standings, probably killing his shot of making the 12-driver cutoff to compete in the Chase over the final 10 races of the season. He moved up one spot to 17th because of Saturday's strong showing, but remains 155 points out of the 12th position currently owned by Clint Bowyer.

"Unfortunately, since we won at Chicago, we hadn't done a whole lot right," said Reutimann, who led 25 laps Saturday. "We've struggled and had some finishes that just certainly were not Chase-worthy."

Reutimann's effort Saturday was nearly worth his second win of the season and third of his four-year Cup career. But after racing side-by-side with Busch's No. 18 Toyota for several laps, he finally gave up the lead for good with 72 laps remaining when Busch appeared to get him loose, Reutimann bobbled, and Busch raced on by. (Continued)