David Reutimann's climb up the point standings continued Sunday night at Charlotte Motor Speedway when the No. 00 Aaron's Armed Forces Foundation Toyota driver posted a fifth-place finish equaling his best result of the 2010 season.

Reutimann ran in the top five throughout the 600-mile race eventually won by Kurt Busch, but felt like there was the potential for an even better finish.

"We fought being tight a little bit in the center and we never could quite get it to cut the center like we needed to," said Reutimann. "We were just a little bit off and all you have to do is just be a little bit off to not be able to get to those guys. Sometimes we would catch them in the long run. It seemed like we were just one adjustment behind. But all in all I'm proud of my team, they did a great job, I had a great Aaron's Dream Machine all day. We just were a little tight at the end. We came down pit road and the 99 (Carl Edwards) was leaving and we were trying to get in our box and just wrong place at the wrong time. It cost us a lot on pit road there. I don't think it cost us the race, but I think it cost us being a little higher in the top-five. You don't ever know. I'm proud of what we've done, proud of my team. I'm glad that my other owner, Rob Kaufmann is here because he doesn't get to watch me race much. Hopefully he's happy and I'll get to keep my job another year."

With his performance as of late, it's all smiles around the Michael Waltrip Racing shop.

"We've been on par performance wise and we've been way ahead of where we were last year," explained Reutimann. "We just had some stuff early on in the year that put us back. Now things are starting to click and things are starting to gel, things aren't breaking and we're starting to finish races where we're supposed to. It feels really good to run up front all day with the guys you're supposed to be racing with."

The finish moves the race's defending winner to 19th in the point standings at the halfway mark of the regular season. He owns four consecutive top-15 finishes and two consecutive fifth-place finishes. The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series returns to action Sunday at Pocono International Raceway.

NOTES:

• Reutimann finished fifth, equaling his season-best results posted at Daytona and Dover.
• He moves from 20th to 19th in points at the halfway mark of the regular season.
• Reutimann spent very little time outside the top five during the 600-mile race and led three laps, garnering five bonus points.
• Reutimann enjoyed a relatively drama free race except for a lap 255 pit stop that saw a near collision between he and Carl Edwards on pit lane.
• Even though he battled a tight handling condition on occasion, Reutimann appeared to be one of the fastest three or four cars throughout the race.
• Reutimann finished 6.976-seconds behind winner Kurt Busch.
• Kurt Busch swept both the Sprint All-Star Race and the Coke 600, leading 251 laps Sunday night.
• Top five order after Busch: Jamie McMurray, Kyle Busch, Mark Martin and David Reutimann.
• Race took 4 hours 10 minutes and 13 seconds and included eight cautions for 34 laps.
• The average speed was 144.975 mph.
• There were 17 leaders and 34 lead changes.