Why Kostecki can't sleep on big points lead

Brodie Kostecki has built a healthy lead after three rounds in the 2023 Repco Supercars Championship, and is early favourite to win the title.

However, the Erebus Motorsport driver will need to deny a gaggle of drivers, and recent history, if he’s to get the job done.

Kostecki will carry a 100-point lead over Walkinshaw Andretti United’s Chaz Mostert to next weekend’s NED Whisky Tasmania SuperSprint.

Shane van Gisbergen is 136 points down in third, with Will Brown (171 points behind) and Broc Feeney (220 points) fourth and fifth.

If any of Mostert, van Gisbergen, Brown or Feeney win the title, they will join an exclusive club of comeback champions.

Just nine times has a driver come from 100 or more points down to win the championship.

Jamie Whincup did it twice — his first championship in 2008, and his record-breaking sixth title in 2014.

Whincup overhauled a 208-point mid-season deficit to Mark Winterbottom in 2008, and clawed back 213 points on the same driver in 2014.

If Feeney wins the title from here, it would be the biggest ever comeback in Supercars history to win a championship.

Whincup also famously let slip the 2010 championship to James Courtney, having led his Ford rival by 204 points after four rounds.

Van Gisbergen is no stranger to mounting a comeback — in 2016, he was 137 points behind Whincup before going on to win the title.

A maximum of 2835 points is still to be won over the final nine rounds in 2023, but 600 can be won — or lost — at the 300-point enduros at Sandown and Bathurst.

A maximum of 315 points are on offer in Tasmania next weekend, with five fastest lap bonus points on offer for top 15 drivers in each of the three sprints.

The 2023 Repco Supercars Championship will resume at the NED Whisky Tasmania SuperSprint on May 19-21.

Tickets for the event are on sale on Supercars.com and Ticketek.com.

10 biggest post-event deficits overhauled to become champion (since 2000)

Jamie Whincup, 2014: 213 points behind Mark Winterbottom, Perth (Rnd 5 of 14)

Jamie Whincup, 2008: 208 points behind Mark Winterbottom, Ipswich (Rnd 7 of 14)

James Courtney, 2010: 204 points behind Jamie Whincup, Hamilton (Rnd 4 of 14)

Marcos Ambrose, 2003: 144 points behind Jason Bright, Phillip Island (Rnd 2 of 13)

Shane van Gisbergen, 2016: 137 points behind Jamie Whincup, Sydney (Rnd 9 of 14)

Jamie Whincup, 2017: 129 points behind Scott McLaughlin, Ipswich (Rnd 8 of 14)

Russell Ingall, 2005: 115 points behind Marcos Ambrose, Ipswich (Rnd 7 of 13)

Rick Kelly, 2006: 101 points behind Craig Lowndes, Bathurst (Rnd 9 of 13)

Jamie Whincup, 2011: 100 points behind Craig Lowndes, Bathurst (Rnd 10 of 14)

Scott McLaughlin, 2018: 93 points behind Shane van Gisbergen, Adelaide (Rnd 1 of 16)