10 biggest title-winning points margins
Shane van Gisbergen will arrive at Winton in October with a 276-point series lead over teammate Jamie Whincup.
With 1545 points on offer in the remaining five rounds, van Gisbergen has ample time to create the biggest-ever points gap.
Conversely, one bad round and the 2021 title is back up for grabs.
With so much racing left this season, either scenario seems as likely as the other.
If the 2021 season ended right now, van Gisbergen would be champion with the eighth-biggest title-winning margin.
Here are the 10 biggest championship-winning margins in Supercars history.
238 points: Marcos Ambrose over Russell Ingall in 2004
Ambrose was hard to beat from lights-out in Adelaide
The Ford hero went back-to-back in 2004, with Russell Ingall making it a Stone Brothers Racing quinella.
Ambrose won 11 of the season’s 26 races, and clinched the crown in Race 1 of the Eastern Creek season finale.
238 points: Mark Winterbottom over Craig Lowndes in 2015
Frosty clinches the 2015 crown
Winterbottom’s march to the 2015 title came after a dominant first half of the season.
He failed to win any of the final 12 races of the year, but winning nine of the first 24 saw Winterbottom build a points lead no driver could overhaul.
Teammate Chaz Mostert loomed as his biggest title threat, but injuries sustained in a Bathurst crash saw Lowndes emerge as the next best challenger.
253 points: Jamie Whincup over Mark Winterbottom in 2008
Bathurst and title wins for Whincup (R) in 2008
Seven years earlier, Winterbottom gave up a big mid-season lead to finish second behind Whincup.
Whincup rebounded from an early-season shunt in New Zealand to win the title with 15 race wins, including a third-straight Bathurst crown.
305 points: Jamie Whincup over Will Davison in 2009
Whincup went back-to-back in 2009
A year later, Whincup won 11 races and a second straight drivers’ title.
The Triple Eight ace clinched the title on the Saturday at Sydney Olympic Park, all but sealing the title in Perth after Davison crashed in the pits.
339 points: Jamie Whincup over Craig Lowndes in 2012
A season to remember for Whincup in 2012
Whincup won 12 races and clinched the title with a round to spare, at Winton, in 2012.
The crowning was complete in Sydney with a stunning drive from 24th to fifth in the final race of the season.
451 points: Scott McLaughlin over Cameron Waters in 2020
Three in a row for McLaughlin in 2020
Last year belonged to McLaughlin, who won 13 of the season’s 27 races to claim championship No. 3.
McLaughlin, for the second year in a row, clinched the title with a round to spare.
562 points: Scott McLaughlin over Shane van Gisbergen in 2019
A record-breaking 2019 campaign for McLaughlin
McLaughlin’s run to the 2019 title featured wins in 18 of the first 25 races, the last coming at Mount Panorama.
The Kiwi’s 18 wins saw McLaughlin topple the marker of 16 set by Lowndes in 1996.
583 points: Jamie Whincup over Shane van Gisbergen in 2014
Whincup went to another level in 2014
Whincup’s record sixth title was clinched at the penultimate round at Phillip Island.
Whincup won 14 races and claimed 10 poles as he surpassed Ian Geoghegan, Dick Johnson and Mark Skaife with six championships.
603 points: Mark Skaife over Russell Ingall in 2001
Nine wins and the title for Skaife Pic: AN1 Images
13 years earlier, Skaife won his fourth title and second for the Holden Racing Team.
Skaife won nine races and claimed a first Bathurst win in nine years.
658 points: Mark Skaife over Greg Murphy in 2002
Skaife (L) won all before him in 2002 Pic: AN1 Images
Skaife’s 2002 title win came in a season he won 15 of the year’s 29 races.
He went back-to-back in Bathurst, this time with Jim Richards, who he combined with to win the Great Race in 1991 and 1992.
