"Patriotic" Whincup staying put

Newly-crowned V8 Supercars Champion Jamie Whincup has a message for his rivals they won't like: He isn't going anywhere.

There has been speculation that Whincup might be tempted to race overseas in a category such as NASCAR - maybe as soon as 2016 after his current contract with Triple Eight Race Engineering expires.

But having won a record sixth title and Race 34 at the Plus Fitness Phillip Island 400 yesterday afternoon in his Red Bull Racing Australia Holden Commodore VF, the 31-year old slammed that door emphatically shut.

"I can't see myself moving anywhere else. I love my racing more now than I ever have."

Whincup cited his love of Australia as well as the forthcoming technical challenge the Gen2 Supercars will pose when they arrive in 2017 as motivations for him to stay in the championship he has won six times in the last seven years, including the last four years in a row.

He also made it clear he hoped to continue to race beyond 2015 for Triple Eight Race Engineering, the team with which he has won all six titles.

"I would love to do some one-off events overseas but I am very patriotic," Whincup told v8supercars.com.au. "It's one thing for everyone to suggest 'just go overseas', but it's not something that is particularly on my radar at the moment.

"I have all my family here in Australia, I have plenty going on outside the sport as well and that's all here in Australia.

"And I love my V8s and I have no visions of doing anything different in the near future."

The Gen2 racing regulations will be introduced for the 2017 season. V8 Supercars will outline the plan in the week prior to this season's finale at the Sydney NRMA 500. Both bodystyle and drivetrain rules are expected to be affected.

Whincup says the challenge of tuning the Gen2car will be a "massive" motivator for him to keep racing in Australia.

"The game is working with your engineers and your team and trying to come up with a better package than everyone else," he said.

"That's what motorsport is all about and that's where it started... it was all about preparing a car, taking it to the circuit, racing your mates and trying to beat them.

"So when you get a whole new car, a whole new toy to play with, then it is massively exciting. We have had it with Car of the Future and we are still trying to refine that car. It will probably start to normalise at the end of 2016 and the off we go again for 2017 if we are all still around."

Whincup admitted that earlier in his career under the old 'Project Blueprint' regulations when his car cars were pretty much sorted, his motivation to race in the category had dipped.

"But it (motivation) never has been as high as it has been right now ... things started to normalise back in the 2011-12 where we pretty much had one set-up and around we went and went to each race meeting.

"I still absolutely loved the racing, but it was like the same job every day, same desk. Certainly since then the category has done a great job to spice things up and the racing is more competitive than it has ever been, some of the best in the world."

Asked if he could see himself racing in V8s with a team other than Triple Eight, Whincup replied: "I certainly hope not.

"It's been a crazy time; from Betta Electrical to Vodafone to Red Bull, from Ford to Holden and all sorts of different model cars and we will see another big change in a couple of years. So it's been an incredible journey for all of us."