The fate of the SCT TRC has been a hot topic in the Supercars paddock ever since it was announced that Jaxon Evans won’t be in the entry next year.

That has prompted questions over the entire make-up of the program, which has been run by BJR since 2020.

There has been speculation regarding several outcomes including the TRC being shifted to another team.

BJR owner Brad Jones said yesterday that he intended for his team to run four cars next year, although a deal with the SCT outfit wasn’t yet in place.

While it also appears a deal also hasn’t been struck elsewhere, Triple Eight has now emerged as a key contender to take over the entry next year.

That would mark a re-expansion for the powerhouse squad, which fielded three cars between 2016 and 2018 before scaling back to its two primary entries.

It has since run a third car on a wildcard basis, backed by Supercheap Auto, since 2022, although that program will move to Team 18 next year.

“We haven’t planned anything beyond this weekend,” said T8 boss Jamie Whincup when asked by Speedcafe about the team’s 2026 plans.

“The year is very much working to Bathurst and then after Bathurst you start working it out.

“We’re lucky. We’ve done our driver signings, which is good, but you start working out all those things, your enduros, your programs, everything like that.

“We haven’t put any thought into what that would look like apart from we’ve got a few teams interested in our full wildcard kit, truck, all the equipment, everything.

“So we’ll work out if we sell that kit on or we utilise it elsewhere.”

Tickford Racing CEO Simon Brookhouse earlier today shutdown speculation that his squad could take on the SCT entry.

Should Triple Eight take over the SCT TRC it would tip the scales further in Ford’s favour in terms of numbers, adding an 11th Mustang and dropping the Toyota Supra count to five.