Brad Keselowski scored a ninth-place finish in the Drydene 311 Saturday afternoon at Dover International Speedway. The driver of the WURTH Ford Mustang racked up his 17th top-10 finish in 24 races this season and his ninth at Dover. Keselowski remains third in the NASCAR Cup Series driver standings, 136 points behind leader Kevin Harvick.

Keselowski started seventh and battled a loose-handling Ford Mustang throughout Stage 1. He pitted during the competition caution on lap 26 for four tires and a track bar adjustment and restarted 14th on lap 31. From there, Keselowski steadily worked his way through traffic, climbing up to third when the stage ended on lap 70. Crew chief Jeremy Bullins called for four tires and another track bar adjustment during the stage caution on lap 73 and Keselowski restarted fourth when the green waved on lap 77.

Stage 2 ran caution-free and featured a round of green flag pit stops.  Keselowski led two laps before making his scheduled stop on lap 139. He ran inside the top-five for the entire segment and raced hard with Kyle Busch for fourth position in the final laps of the stage. Busch found a way by and Keselowski was forced to settle for fifth when the segment concluded on lap 185. Keselowski pitted during the stage caution on lap 188 for four tires and an air pressure adjustment and restarted fifth on lap 192.

The third and final stage also featured long stretches of green flag racing and a cycle of stops under green. Keselowski said his Mustang was free during the middle of the run.  He stayed out and led seven laps before making his final scheduled stop under green on lap 261. Keselowski returned to the track and cycled up to ninth position when the pit cycle was complete but couldn’t get closer to the front before the race ended.

“We had a decent day in, nothing to write home about but not bad. We ran solidly in the top-10 all day with our WURTH Ford Mustang. I had a really good restart there in the first stage that got us third and it was kind of okay from there. We took a little shot at it running long in Stage 2 hoping for a yellow and didn’t get it but that’s part of the deal. We did the best we could to get what we had out of our day.”