Finals Race: Wood in, Hill out as surprise contender emerges

Ryan Wood was the big winner, and Cameron Hill the big loser, on what was another big weekend in the race for Finals spots in season 2025.

While Broc Feeney continued his march towards the Repco Sprint Cup with two wins, the NTI Townsville 500 was still full of drama, twists and turns.

A Sunday shock for Matt Stone Racing's Hill opened the door for Walkinshaw Andretti United's Wood to jump into the top 10, with Hill dropping out.

Debris ruined Hill's Sunday race, with the MSR driver crawling to 24th and last. Wood returned to the 10 at Hill's expense, and has 53 points on the Canberran.

Anton De Pasquale was the big mover, jumping Hill, Thomas Randle and Andre Heimgartner. After starting the weekend in 10th, the Team 18 driver claimed a Friday podium and moved to seventh.

A Saturday crash was costly for James Golding, with Will Davison forced to make an emergency stop on Sunday after a wheel came loose. Golding dropped from 14th to 16th, with Davison nearly 200 points from 10th.

An engine failure on Saturday also dented James Courtney's hopes. Courtney was 159 points behind 10th heading to Townsville, and is now 261 down.

It all opened the door to Bryce Fullwood, who has emerged as a bolter to make the Finals.

Fullwood, who was 20th after Perth, is now 14th and 132 points outside the 10. The Brad Jones Racing driver has six top 10s in his last nine starts, and followed up seventh for the round in Darwin with ninth in Townsville.

Supercars returns to Queensland Raceway on August 8-10 to round out the Repco Sprint Cup at the Century Batteries Ipswich Super 440. Tickets are on sale now.

What is the Finals, and how do you make it?

From 2025, Supercars drivers will take an historic new path in the fight for championship glory. The 2025 Repco Supercars Championship will be held over 34 races across 13 rounds, in three different segments: Sprint Cup, Enduro Cup, and the Finals.

Finals for the 2025 championship occur post-Bathurst over the last three rounds at the Gold Coast, Sandown and Adelaide.

Only 10 drivers will be eligible for the Finals based on championship points from the regular season, which is all 27 races up to and including Bathurst, and 'Cup' winning eligibility.

What does that mean? Simply, the winners of the Sprint Cup and the Enduro Cup each have automatic entry into the Finals, and receive 25 bonus points to start the first round of the Finals with.

The remaining positions for the Finals are based on regular season championship points.

Each round is worth 300 points. There will also be five bonus points for the driver who sets the fastest lap in all Sprint Cup races. The fastest lap is only eligible for bonus points if the driver finishes in the top 15. These contribute to championship points for that round.

2025 Finals Watch after Round 7

After 2025 NTI Townsville 500