How Feeney means business in 2026 after warning shot

"I’ve started watching a snippet of it and gone 'nah, can’t watch it’.”

That was Scott McLaughlin in 2018 when asked if he had ever watched the coverage of his 2017 Newcastle heartbreak. Three days later, he was Supercars champion. Within two years, he was a consecutive three-time champion.

Heartbreak comes with the territory in sporting defeat. Tears usually follow. All physical and mental reserves have been stretched to the absolute limit.

Some can let go, others can’t. Those that can’t, per the common saying, learn more from their defeats and don’t let the pain go, than their wins.

It’s a different story to 2017, but 2025 triggered a similar vein of shock. How could this happen? Broc Feeney was the man, but when it mattered most, it fell apart.

While Chaz Mostert ending his 13-season wait for championship glory was centred on euphoria, there’s no doubt the underlying feeling for many was that Feeney had lost.

While he won 14 races in 2025, Feeney’s best win was arguably fronting up to Mark ‘Larko’ Larkham post-race, tears and all, admitting he would lay low, which he did.

For Supercars fans, it’s even better that Feeney has again fronted up ahead of the new season, insisting he isn’t over the lap 1 contact with Ryan Wood that started his dramatic chain of events in the Adelaide finale.

For this writer, any doubt that Feeney wouldn’t be ‘locked in’ for 2026 was swiftly buried last week, when the 23-year-old shot a warning across Wood’s bow.

Winning has always been the limit of Feeney’s ambition, but this season, he could cut a sharper, more curt figure. Why blame him? Were the emotions pouring out after the race not enough to prove just how fiercely competitive these drivers are?

Some wounds never heal. McLaughlin admitted the pain of 2017 was far too strong to relive. Instead, he has kept it at arm’s length, but insists it was crucial to his development.

In the build-up to the 2023 Newcastle event, six years after his heartbreak, Supercars published highlights of past Newcastle rounds. It included the wild clip of McLaughlin colliding with Craig Lowndes, which attracted the penalty that handed the title to Jamie Whincup.

Retweeting that clip, McLaughlin wrote, “Still hurts. Made me better though.”

McLaughlin doesn’t hide behind it, and went to a new level. You’d be brave to bet that Feeney can’t do the same.

The views in this article do not necessarily express the opinions of Supercars, teams or drivers.