Lowndes, who turned 50 in June last year, is poised to make his 32nd start in the Bathurst 1000.

It’ll be the fourth instance of Lowndes driving a Triple Eight Race Engineering wildcard supported by the automotive accessories retailer.

This year is the last in his current contract cycle with Triple Eight.

Beyond 2025, Lowndes is optimistic that he will continue with the team in some capacity.

“We’ll be talking to Triple Eight soon enough to see whether they want to extend, regardless – whether it’s a wildcard program or just another program,” Lowndes told Speedcafe.

“I think that we’ve still got a couple more years to go that we can still help contribute and be part of a program like a wildcard. If it’s not a wildcard, hopefully we can find something else.”

Lowndes said his driving future didn’t rely on Supercheap Auto’s commitment but believed the retailer was invested enough to continue its support beyond this year.

“I think that the consistency and I suppose the longevity that Supercheap has put into the program, it’s definitely got credibility,” he explained.

“Sometimes things like these pop up, pop out, disappear quickly — but this one’s been a stayer and it’s been a great program.

“We got knocked around a little bit at the beginning because you know the first year with Declan [Fraser], we got him to qualify the car,” he added.

“Again it was all about experience. People wanted me to qualify the car and put it up further, but at the end of the day, the program’s about giving the young guys an opportunity in in every facet of of a weekend, qualifying’s one part of it.

“It’s grown in strength over the years, people have understood it better, and I think that we’ve got great momentum. Supercheap Auto definitely love it.”

Of his 31 starts to date, 20 of them have been with the Banyo-based squad. All but one of his seven wins have been with the Supercars powerhouse.

In any case, Lowndes sees his Supercars career coming to an end at Triple Eight – albeit, not any time soon.

“At the moment, I can’t see anywhere else that I want to be,” he said.

“Who knows? The futures have been an interesting journey for me over the years, but Triple Eight has been fantastic, always presented and delivered some strong race cars.

“You go to a place like Bathurst, you want that reliability and durability and Triple Eight have definitely got that.

“At the end of the day, you’ve gotta be realistic too. You don’t want to be just that number that sits in the category and fills a seat for someone else who’s got an opportunity,” he added.

“So as long as we’re still feeling fast, we still can produce lap times and we can contribute in a lot of other ways like that.

“Hopefully, as I said, at least another couple of years I feel like we can still be part of that program and still be at the front of the field.”

This year, Lowndes will be joined by Super2 Series winner Zach Bates. The Supercars veteran has had limited interactions with the youngster but said he’s been impressed.

Bates comes to the team from Walkinshaw Andretti United, who he spent two seasons with in the Supercars feeder category. He’ll return to the Super2 Series in 2025 with Eggleston Motorsport.

“He’s come and done parts of the ride day which has been great,” said Lowndes.

“He’s at least got into the car. He fits into the car, but we’ve got to make him a little bit more comfortable. He’s quite tall.

“His communication, his feedback, his feel for the car seems to be really good. He speaks very well, presents very well. I think that’s because of the Bates family obviously being the way they are in rally and everything else.

“He’s been exposed to that side of it at such a young age, which has been great because a lot of the program really is to groom them in other areas, not just the driving side of it, but he has sort of polished that a lot.

“I think it’s going to be great. It’s the first time that I’ve had a co-driver that’s been taller than me, so that’s going to be interesting – how do we manage that side of it?”