LAS VEGAS — Steven Peebles’ improbable and inspiring run for a world championship got a whole lot tougher Friday night at the National Finals Rodeo.

The bareback rider from Redmond finished out of the money while the cowboy he has been relentlessly chasing for nine days, Utah’s top-ranked Kaycee Feild, won the round to put some serious distance between the two leading contenders for the title.

Feild, the four-time defending world champion, scored 82 points on Control Freak on the final ride of the round to edge past Oklahoma’s Seth Hardwick (81.5) for first place and a check for $26,231. Peebles, meanwhile, tied for ninth with a 78.5 on Alpha Dog.

With only tonight’s final round remaining, Feild now has 2015 earnings of $260,463 to Peebles’ $225,999 — a difference of $34,464. Peebles could still overtake Feild with a strong performance in Round 10, but the leader would also have to stumble badly, and Peebles would need to significantly surpass Feild in the aggregate standings.

Through nine rounds, Peebles is first in the average with 749 points; Feild is third with 715.5.

First place in the average after the final round earns an additional $67,269, which could move Peebles past Feild. Second place for the average, a position currently held by Hardwick, who is No. 3 in the world standings, is worth $54,577. Third place earns $43,154, fourth gets $31,731, and fifth place — below which Feild is unlikely to finish — wins $22,846.

If the odds seem stacked against Peebles, consider that he was a long shot just to get to the finals. In early July at a rodeo in Livingston, Montana, the 26-year-old suffered a life-threatening injury — broken ribs that punctured an artery, filling his lungs with blood — and missed nearly two prime months of the rodeo season. Still, he fought back to qualify for the NFR for the seventh year in row, and he entered the finals ranked No. 14 in the world.

He proceeded to place first in two of the first three rounds and has been breathing down Feild’s neck for the past week. And, remarkably, he still has a chance to win his first world championship gold buckle.

While Peebles went without a paycheck Friday night, two fellow Central Oregon riders, Terrebonne’s Austin Foss and Culver’s Bobby Mote, finished in the bareback money. Foss posted a score of 81 points on Four Socks to tie for third place, good for $13,327, while Mote’s score of 80.5 on Lil’ Devil tied for fifth place and earned the four-time world champ $5,500.

Both Foss and Mote have won checks in four rounds at this NFR, and the two currently rank fifth and eighth, respectively, in the bareback world standings.

In team roping Friday night, Central Oregon’s Russell Cardoza finished one spot out of the money. The heeler from Terrebonne teamed with New Mexico header Jake Cooper for a time of 5.0 seconds — just two-tenths of a second out of sixth place and what would have been the duo’s second paycheck of the finals.

The best result of the round for Oregon’s six NFR qualifiers was turned in by steer wrestler Trevor Knowles. The Mount Vernon cowboy posted a time of 3.6 seconds for second place and winnings of $20,731. His cousin and fellow steer wrestler Blake Knowles, of Heppner, finished out of the money.