Brad Keselowski overcame an early pit road speeding penalty, powering his No. 6 Solomon Plumbing Ford all the way to the 11th position with a handful of laps remaining in stage two in Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Race at Kansas Speedway. However, a loose wheel would force the NASCAR Champion to pit under green at the beginning of the race’s third stage, ultimately settling for a 25th-place finish.

“We found top 10 speed at the end today,” said Keselowski after the race. “We just didn’t have enough time to rebound and show it off, with the tire issue biting us. We’ll take what we learned today, and we are looking forward to getting back on track next week at Bristol.”

The No. 6 team qualified 26th but boasted a Ford Mustang with good speed on the short run, gaining seven positions in the first five laps of the afternoon. After an early pit road speeding penalty and ultimately battling a tight handling race car, Keselowski finished stage one in the 19th position.

The No. 6 Ford had moved inside the top 15 with 40 laps remaining in stage two and restarting 11th. Keselowski ultimately finished the race’s second stage in 15th position and appeared poised for a strong finish at Kansas, before the day was ultimately derailed by the loose wheel just as the final stage went green.

Bristol Motor Speedway hosts the NASCAR Cup Series this Saturday night with race coverage set for 7:30 p.m. ET on USA, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.