Dutton defends Whincup comments, backs strategy calls

Triple Eight Team Manager Mark Dutton has backed the "passion" behind Jamie Whincup's post-race comments in Tasmania following the team's narrow defeat in Race 13.

Triple Eight Team Principal Whincup said he was "filthy" his team missed out on victory in the Symmons Plains finale, with Penrite Racing driver Matt Payne beating Broc Feeney by 0.05s.

Feeney was the benchmark all weekend, winning both Saturday races. Teammate and reigning champion Will Brown snagged pole on Sunday, before dropping down the order following a robust battle with Cam Waters.

An early-race Safety Car saw Triple Eight split its cars on strategy; Brown completed both stops under yellow, while Feeney set qualifying laps and opened a gap before making his second stop in the closing laps.

Despite Feeney's efforts, the rising star saying he "left it all out there," the win went begging for Triple Eight, something that didn't sit well with a "gutted" Whincup.

Speaking on The Formation Lap, long-time Triple Eight Team Manager Dutton, also formerly Whincup's engineer, said: “That’s the passion you want from everyone, let alone Jamie.

“He has to push us to not just accept it was a good race, and we couldn’t have done better, which we don’t accept that.

“But it’s still his job to push and make sure we are turning over every stone.”

Brown restarted the race in 13th after making his two stops, with Payne ninth. Feeney opened a gap and stopped on lap 58 of the 78-lapper, and fell just short of Payne.

Dutton hailed engineers Martin Short and Andrew Edwards for being decisive with their calls, and insisted that the decision to make both stops was the "better" strategy had the race run green to the finish.

“When you look at it, we split the strategy,” Dutton said.

“That was a really good call, because the engineers were quite decisive with the call. That’s the first thing to get right, is make a call, right or wrong. It’s easy to sit on the fence until the opportunity is gone.

“Whilst this ended up looking like the double-tap with the sequential laps was the gun strategy, which is what we did on Will’s car, there was a 20-30 lap window where if there was a Safety Car, it wasn’t the gun strategy.

"Broc would’ve won, cruising home with his arm sitting on the window, like [Craig] Lowndesy used to do. The way it fell, the double-tap was the better strategy.

“There’s so many good drivers, so many good cars, every team is on form, that the strategy to double-tap on Will and get back him on the podium was brilliant, and worked well."

Feeney leads Brown by 33 points heading to Perth on June 6-8, with Triple Eight 342 points ahead of closest rival Tickford Racing in the teams' championship.