Payne tipped to take over at the top

There's a very compelling case to claim that Matt Payne has been the form driver of the 2026 Repco Supercars Championship. In fact, it's form so good that he could find himself leading the championship this time next week.

Despite at times deafening noise surrounding a potential future switch to Chevrolet and Team 18, and managing himself physically after breaking his wrist in a training mishap, the 23-year-old has been nothing short of superb.

That's despite being as far as 162 points off the championship lead halfway through the Christchurch weekend, just eight races ago.

Yet, following a rough Darwin for Broc Feeney, Payne is now poised to wrestle the Repco Sprint Cup back off Feeney should he outperform the #88 Ford once again.

2015 Supercars champion Mark Winterbottom is adamant that Payne will claim the championship lead, and hold it when the circus departs Townsville at the end of the weekend.

"Matt Payne's going to come out as championship leader," declared Winterbottom on Channel 7's Supercars Preview Show.

"The reason is, the longer the races, the strategy of that Penrite team is very, very strong, and his tyre life, and the way they manage their fuel and tyres and all that stuff.

"He's going to come out with the orange number, and he's going to take over [from] Broc Feeney."

"I can't give you the lead number, maybe one point, but he will come out championship leader."

Recent history suggests that Feeney and Payne have become the two leading protagonists in Supercars, despite winning streaks for the likes of Chaz Mostert and Brodie Kostecki in the last 18 months.

This also rings true at Townsville, where Feeney and Payne have combined for three of the five wins taken on the streets of North Queensland in the last two seasons.

However, it's the Kiwi who has been more consistent, finishing inside the top five in every race held since 2024. Feeney, on the other hand, had his two wins last year balanced out by two sevenths in 2024 and an eighth in 2025's Friday sprint.

The dominant - though winless - Townsville force of Gen3, Chaz Mostert, faces questions of his own this weekend, Toyota's ongoing reliability concerns and yo-yo'ing performance leaving the reigning champion battling to stay inside the Finals bubble.

On-track action in Townsville begins on Friday.

Gen3 Average Finish: Townsville Street Circuit

Active drivers with five or more starts since 2023