Payne wary of getting caught up in Finals cut-off chaos

Matt Payne is wary of getting caught up in battles of drivers fighting to make the Finals, with several contenders fighting for spots in the final Repco Sprint Cup rounds.

Penrite Racing driver Payne is 123 points behind leader Broc Feeney, and 427 points above 10th-placed Ryan Wood.

The top four of Feeney, Will Brown, Payne and Cam Waters could perhaps consider themselves safe from elimination at this stage, but anything can happen.

Things will certainly happen below them — from Cameron Hill in eighth to Nick Percat in 13th, six drivers are covered by just 68 points.

Payne, who doesn’t have a strong record in Darwin, was pleased he has a buffer over those fighting for top 10 spots, but insists he has to find better speed to stay out of trouble.

“Qualifying is super tight around here, the margins are next to nothing,” Payne said on Thursday.

“It's going to be tough. I think the racing is going to be pretty hard out there. I know there’s a lot of guys that want to get into the top 10.

“We’re in there, so it’s nice to have consolidated those points from the last few rounds. But it’s so easy to get caught up in their fight, we just have to have the speed to be in front of them.”

In his exclusive Supercars.com column, Supercars legend Craig Lowndes predicted drivers fighting for Finals spots will become more desperate in coming rounds, which could lend itself to more drama and tension.

The tension hit new highs in 2025 at the last round in Perth, when James Golding and Ryan Wood collided late in the final race. Heading to Darwin, Wood is 10th, with Golding 27 points down in 11th.

2010 champion James Courtney — who is 136 points from the top 10 — echoed Lowndes’ comments, saying: “I think it’s going to be an interesting next few rounds, especially this weekend with the Sprint Cup ending.

“Everyone’s going to be desperate to get into that 10, so that’ll spice things up.”

Track action commences in Darwin with two practice sessions on Friday.