RICHMOND, Va. – Brad Keselowski’s bid for a fourth-straight Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series win may have come to an end with a ninth-place finish in Saturday night’s Federated Auto Parts 400, but it wasn’t without a furious effort.

Keselowski led five times for 67 laps at Richmond Raceway, but his most notable stretch of the race was during the final stage, when he and eventual race winner Kyle Busch charged to the front of the field and waged war for nearly the entire closing third of the event.

The Team Penske driver took the lead at lap 273 before he and Busch began a tug of war for the top spot. Busch overhauled Keselowski with 114 to go, but Keselowski rallied back to reclaim the spot with 73 laps left, sparking nearly 40 straight circuits of either side-by-side or nose-to-tail racing between the two.

Keselowski held serve out front from laps 343 to 363, masterfully using the momentum from the three-quarter-mile oval’s middle and upper grooves to keep Busch at bay as he and Busch diced in and out of slower traffic.

Finally, however, Busch was able to prevail with 37 to go, taking over the reins for good with a deep dive to Keselowski’s inside in turn one. Once clear, Busch motored away as Keselowski’s abused equipment faded back through the top 10.

“We had a lot of short run speed and I knew that was our chance to win the race,” noted Keselowski.  “We ran it pretty hard and it just didn’t quite work out. We didn’t quite catch the breaks we needed there and burned off the rear tires. We ran pretty well, but we still have some things to work on.”

Though he wasn’t able to capture the State of Virginia Trophy on Saturday night, Keselowski still left pleased with his team’s signs of progress, as well as the fact that they are locked into the second round of the playoffs by virtue of their win at Las Vegas (Nev.) Motor Speedway in the playoff opener.

As such, Keselowski doesn’t have to lose sleep over the upcoming Bank of America ROVAL 400 on Sunday.

“The biggest challenge will be just surviving the ROVAL,” Keselowski said of the 2.28-mile, 17-turn course. “The track’s very unforgiving … (with) very tight confines and not a lot of room to race.

“You don’t want to go in there having to bank on a good finish to advance, and thankfully we don’t have to worry about that. It’s going to be exciting though, for sure.”