Sprint Cup hits laid bare for Kostecki, Waters

A dramatic Saturday for Brodie Kostecki and Cam Waters has all but set up a two-horse race for the 2026 Repco Sprint Cup.

Dick Johnson Racing's Kostecki and Tickford Racing's Waters shelved 89 and 51 points to leader Matt Payne in a busy day at the Bosch Power Tools Perth Super 440.

Kostecki and Waters arrived on Saturday sitting 187 and 195 points behind Payne respectively, with Triple Eight's Broc Feeney 92 points down.

The #17 Shell V-Power Ford was the biggest casualty across the two races, with Kostecki sent into the Turn 1 sand by Payne’s Penrite Racing teammate Kai Allen.

Starting second, Waters led the opening laps of the first race, before being overtaken by Payne and Ryan Wood, before being undone by a slow stop courtesy of a cross-threaded wheel nut. He recovered to fourth, surviving a wild battle with Allen and Chaz Mostert.

In the second race, Waters simply had no pace and finished ninth, 22 seconds away from victory, with Kostecki seventh.

"It was an okay day. Obviously good to start on the front row. Wasn't probably quick enough in race trim, ended up fourth. Kinda got lucky with the Safety Car in race one," Waters said.

"We were a bit unsure about the Super Soft car from qualifying and, kinda struggled a little bit on the Super Soft. Definitely got some strengths and weaknesses, but definitely got a bit of work to do."

Waters’ deficit to Payne blew out from 195 to 246 points in a single day, with Kostecki going from 187 points down to 276, a net loss of 89 points across two sprint races.

There’s a maximum of 460 points left across the next four races, meaning Waters and Kostecki would need a miracle to unseat Payne and pull off a shock Sprint Cup comeback.

Broc Feeney won Saturday’s second race from Payne to close the gap to 107 points.

Sunday Supercars action begins with Boost Mobile Qualifying at 11:00am local time/1:00pm AEST.