Shell V-Power Racing Team enters the final day of the 2019 Virgin Australia Supercars Championship with a comfortable but not insurmountable advantage at the top of the teams’ standings.
DJR Team Penske leads by 143 points and is therefore chasing only another 145 points today to put itself clear of the Red Bull Holden Racing Team.
Read on for a number of probable scenarios and what the leading Ford team needs to do in order to prevail over the factory Holden team.
DJR Team Penske’s failsafe scenarios
The 150 points for a race win are enough to put the teams’ championship beyond doubt, regardless of where the other DJRTP Mustang finishes (if at all).
If neither Scott McLaughlin nor Fabian Coulthard can win the race, then a fourth for one and any finish for the other would also tip them over the threshold.
It is actually impossible to collect 145 points today, meaning a tie will not happen, except perhaps in the event of team penalties.
The following sets of results tip DJRTP past the magic 145 points haul:
| Lead car | Second car |
| 1st | DNF |
| 4th | Any finish |
| 5th | 23rd |
| 6th | 20th |
| 7th | 18th |
| 8th | 15th |
| 9th | 14th |
| 10th | 12th |
That is, those scenarios cover the prospect of Triple Eight finishing one-two, as it came close to doing in Race 31.
If Triple Eight gets a double podium but not a one-two
Should Triple Eight finish first and third, DJRTP can achieve the necessary 136 points as follows:
| Lead car | Second car |
| 2nd | DNF |
| 5th | Any finish |
| 6th | 23rd |
| 7th | 21st |
| 8th | 19th |
| 9th | 17th |
| 10th | 15th |
| 11th | 13th |
Should Triple Eight finish second and third, DJRTP can achieve the necessary 124 points as follows:
| Lead car | Second car |
| 1st | DNF |
| 7th | Any finish |
| 8th | 23rd |
| 9th | 21st |
| 10th | 19th |
| 11th | 17th |
| 12th | 16th |
| 13th | 15th |
If Triple Eight gets one podium
While there are 301 possible pairs of results for Triple Eight (ignoring the order of the particular cars), we will focus only on other key scenarios.
Should Triple Eight finish first and fourth, DJRTP can achieve the necessary 127 points as follows:
| Lead car | Second car |
| 3rd | DNF |
| 7th | Any finish |
| 8th | 22nd |
| 9th | 20th |
| 10th | 18th |
| 11th | 16th |
| 12th | 15th |
| 13th | 14th |
Should Triple Eight finish second and fourth, DJRTP can achieve the necessary 115 points as follows:
| Lead car | Second car |
| 3rd | DNF |
| 9th | Any finish |
| 10th | 22nd |
| 11th | 20th |
| 12th | 19th |
| 13th | 18th |
| 14th | 17th |
| 15th | 16th |
Should Triple Eight finish third and fourth, DJRTP can achieve the necessary 106 points as follows:
| Lead car | Second car |
| 5th | DNF |
| 10th | Any finish |
| 11th | 23rd |
| 12th | 22nd |
| 13th | 21st |
| 14th | 20th |
| 15th | 19th |
| 16th | 18th |
If Triple Eight does not make the podium
Should Triple Eight finish fourth and fifth, DJRTP can achieve the necessary 88 points as follows:
| Lead car | Second car |
| 8th | DNF |
| 16th | Any finish |
| 17th | 23rd |
| 18th | 22nd |
| 19th | 21st |
Armor All Qualifying for Race 32 of the season starts at 1120 local time/AEDT.
Teams’ championship
| Pos | Car(s) | Team/Sponsor(s) | Pts | |
| 1 | 12 | 17 | Shell V-Power Racing Team | 6368 |
| 2 | 88 | 97 | Red Bull Holden Racing Team | 6225 |
| 3 | 5 | 55 | The Bottle-O Racing Team & Supercheap Auto Racing | 5156 |
| 4 | 6 | 23 | Monster Energy Racing | 4903 |
| 5 | 9 | 99 | Penrite Racing | 4700 |
| 6 | 2 | 22 | Mobil 1 Racing | 4266 |
| 7 | 8 | 14 | Freightliner & Timken Racing | 4203 |
| 8 | 7 | 15 | Castrol Racing & Plus Fitness Racing | 3589 |
| 9 | 33 | 34 | Boost Mobile Racing | 3040 |
| 10 | 3 | 78 | Team Harvey Norman & RABBLE.club Racing | 2656 |
| 11 | 18 | IRWIN Racing | 1992 | |
| 12 | 35 | Bigmate Racing | 1482 | |
| 13 | 21 | Team CoolDrive | 1285 | |
| 14 | 19 | Truck Assist Tekno Racing | 1208 | |
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