Winterbottom's emotional reassurance to kids in podium return

Mark Winterbottom's return to Tickford started in the best way possible with a runner-up finish at the AirTouch 500 at The Bend, but it wasn't a return to the podium he was most proud of.

Instead, it was the reaction of his six-year-old son, Elliot, that rammed home how welcome the silverware was.

Winterbottom finished second in Sunday's race alongside Cam Waters, who recently revealed he is expecting his first child with fiancé Brooke.

The end of Winterbottom's full-time career saw him bring Team 18 their maiden pole position, race win, and podiums, however he was unceremoniously let go in the midst of a 2024 season where he scored the team's only podiums.

Winterbottom has had a new lease on life since returning to the organisation where he became the hero of Ford fans around the country, mentoring the rising stars of the team's four-pronged Super2 efforts.

He also scored a plum co-drive alongside Waters, who threw everything he could at Brodie Kostecki across the final stint of the 102 lap race, but ultimately had to settle for second.

A return to the podium came with an immediate reality check for the 2015 Supercars champion, who said: "It's nice when your six-year-old kid is here and he doesn't think you're shit.

"Cam was trying to load him up with some champagne, and he was holding the trophy. He's going to have a baby soon, so I'll remember these moments."

The 2013 Bathurst winner is a father to three boys, Oliver, Austin, and Elliot, and was named Sports Dad of the Year in 2012.

Showing Elliot, born in 2019, the same successes that Oliver and Austin saw as young kids, continues to drive Winterbottom in this new phase of his illustrious career.

Winterbottom proudly had Renee and Elliot with him for a podium in Melbourne last year, and teased Oliver for opting to go to school instead. On Sunday, Oliver FaceTimed his dad straight after the race, with Elliot getting his hands on the trophy after the podium.

"It's cool you know? I'm a proud Dad, and my two older boys saw the glory days, and my six-year-old probably saw some shit years," he said.

"I'm a proud parent, and that was a cool moment seeing my little fella run up to the podium with the trophy and thinking Dad was cool, and watching my 14-year-old FaceTime me, it's a cool moment."

The Waters/Winterbottom combination is now shaping as one of the key contenders for the Ryco Enduro Cup, just 24 points behind the duo of Kostecki/Todd Hazelwood going into the Repco Bathurst 1000.

Winterbottom is eyeing off a fairytale Bathurst win in his first start with the Tickford organisation at The Great Race since 2018.

It would also mark a long-awaited first Bathurst win for Waters, who is acknowledged as one of Bathurst's modern masters, yet remains winless in 14 starts.

"You never doubt yourself, but you've just got to be in the right place, and today was a good result, but we'll try and go a bit better in the next one," Winterbottom added.

"It's just a good result, and a proud moment as a parent."