Payne's telling reaction to seizing points lead

Having seized the championship lead, Matt Payne’s goal is now clear — win the Repco Sprint Cup, and lock in the first Finals berth of 2026.

The Penrite Racing driver put Broc Feeney to the sword on the championship ladder, turning a 15-point deficit into a 92-point lead in Townsville.

Payne delivered finishes of second, first and third to leave North Queensland as the one to beat, arguably making the Sprint Cup his to lose.

Victory in the Sprint Cup — which comprises the first nine rounds of the season — locks the winner into the Supercars Finals, which commences on the Gold Coast.

Given Feeney benched 107 points to Payne in a single weekend, the Bathurst champion knows nothing his guaranteed, especially given the “unorthodox” nature of the coming circuits in Perth and Ipswich.

“Our goal is to try and win the Sprint Cup… that’s our focus at the moment,” Payne said.

“We’re obviously in a great position. We’ve worked really hard to get to this position, and I think everyone should be really proud of achieving that.

“But for sure, the next two tracks are tough, they’re pretty unorthodox tracks I would say on the calendar. We’re going to have to work pretty hard to make sure we stay strong and roll out well and can fight for wins.

"We just need to keep focusing on it race by race and hopefully we can stay in front of the championship.”

Payne led the championship in Melbourne, before a series of incidents handed it to Brodie Kostecki. Kostecki led until Christchurch, where a clash with Chaz Mostert handed it back to Feeney.

Townsville was the biggest weekend yet in the championship story; Kostecki and Cam Waters also gained 108 and 81 points over Feeney respectively.

Payne is now in the box seat, though, adding: “Awesome weekend, coming in taking the championship lead.

“Extending that throughout the weekend, we couldn’t really ask for much more.”

The 2026 Repco Supercars Championship resumes at the Bosch Power Tools Perth Super 440 on July 31-August 2.