Tales of championship heartbreak to heroics Feeney can draw on

If Broc Feeney can climb the championship mountain in 2026, he won’t be the first to turn desolation into elation.

The Red Bull Ampol Racing driver was the benchmark in 2025, winning 14 races and claiming 19 pole positions. However, he fell short in a final day capitulation that handed the title to Chaz Mostert.

For now, history will show Feeney as the seventh driver to claim the most poles and wins in a season and fail to win the title, after Peter Brock (1984), George Fury (1986), Mark Skaife (1999 and 2006), Craig Lowndes (2005), Jamie Whincup (2010) and Scott McLaughlin (2017).

At 23, Feeney has already encountered his fair share of heartache, and those who came before him have some tales to tell. Many all-time greats have suffered chastening defeats, yet managed to turn it around and win it all, some even going on record-breaking runs.

Supercars.com highlights six drivers who turned heartbreak into heroics in the last 25 years.

Mark Skaife

Mark Skaife won 12 races in 1999, 36% of the year's total races, and six rounds. However, poor Adelaide and Queensland 500 showings dropped him to third behind teammate Craig Lowndes and Russell Ingall. Skaife pulled himself up from the canvas and, across the next three seasons, won three championships and two Bathursts.

Garth Tander

A young Garth Tander fell short to Skaife in 2000, despite ending the year with a Bathurst win. Instead of rebounding in 2001, Tander reeled off championship finishes of 10th, 10th, 12th and 11th, finished sixth in 2005, and threw away a mid-year lead in 2006 to finish fourth. What came next was staggering; Tander won 15 races in 2007 and clinched his first crown in a last round showdown with Jamie Whincup.

Jamie Whincup

Whincup's 2007 season was superb, pushing Tander all the way. However, he fell agonisingly short in the end, losing the title to Tander by just two points. In 2008, Whincup shrugged off a shock Hamilton qualifying crash to turn what seemed a certain title defeat into a crushing victory. Whincup won 10 of the last 13 races to wrap up the title with two races to spare.

Mark Winterbottom

Whincup was Mark Winterbottom's primary nemesis, and more often than not, 'Frosty' fell short. Notably, he let slip a 208-point lead over Whincup in 2008, before throwing away a 213-point lead in 2014. In 2015, Winterbottom swept away years of championship heartbreak to finally get the job done.

Scott McLaughlin

When it comes to heartbreak, Scott McLaughlin could argue he has everyone covered. His final day meltdown in Newcastle was barely believable, and it gifted the title to Whincup, who crashed a day earlier. Instead of moping around, McLaughlin returned in 2018 and closed out a hard fought title over Shane van Gisbergen, before utterly dominating 2019 and 2020.

Will Brown

Will Brown and Brodie Kostecki were revelations in 2023 as Erebus Motorsport pounced on the Gen3 regulations. It was Brown who led at the halfway mark, winning in Townsville to climb over Kostecki. Then, the wheels fell off in dramatic fashion, Brown missing the podium in the final 10 races to finish fifth. His response? A 100% podium record in his first year with Triple Eight to become champion... over Feeney.