Allen 'will be the best on the grid'
Kai Allen "will be the best on the grid," says Brenton Grove
Penrite Racing driver sits fifth overall, just 35 points from third
Allen a winner in Christchurch, Darwin already in 2026
Penrite Racing CEO Brenton Grove believes Kai Allen will soon be the best driver on the Supercars grid.
The 21-year-old has soared up the Supercars pecking order since his debut last season, turning a surprise 2025 Grand Final appearance into a multi-win campaign through six rounds in 2026.
Allen's performance has somewhat gone under the radar amid noise surrounding the future of Bathurst champion teammate Matt Payne.
With all eyes on Payne, Allen won in Christchurch and Darwin, and heading to this weekend's NTI Townsville 500, sits just 35 points down on third placed Cam Waters.
Grove, whose team has Allen tied down until 2030, believes his rising star will emerge as Supercars' best driver.
"Kai unfortunately is the one that gets missed," Grove said on Seven’s Supercars Preview Show.
"His performances are incredible. Obviously having access to his data, we're able to see the talent he is.
"Throughout this whole Matt thing, it's been interesting, because we have another driver that is incredibly talented, and in our opinion, will be the best on the grid at some point.
"It takes a lot of pressure off us, but we're here to win with both cars, and we want two drivers who can challenge, and we now have that, so it's really exciting."
The noise around Payne isn't going away, despite driver and team putting on a united front with a decisive statement in Darwin.
When pressed on the Payne saga, Grove insisted "our relationship with Matt has been great the whole time," and that team and driver had been open about the Kiwi's overseas ambitions.
While stating that "Matt needs to see out his agreement," and that there are contingencies in place, Grove maintains Penrite Racing currently has the two drivers it wants in its Mustangs.
“Our job is to try and win races and championships with Matt,” Grove said.
“However, we would be silly not to have contingency plans, and we have multiple people on the spectrum from Super2 drives to people overseas to people within the sport.
“We also are lucky we have two of the fastest cars and we have a lot of people that want to drive for our team, so there’s definitely no shortage of people that have reached out if there was a seat available.
"But we have the two drivers we want in the car.”
Track action in Townsville commences on Friday. Tickets are on sale now, while Foxtel, Kayo Sports and Seven take the action live.
