Kostecki was among the favourites to make it to the Adelaide title decider, but bombed out of contention when he crashed on Saturday at the Gold Coast.

Having been ruled out of the day’s action, it left the #38 Ford Mustang driver in a must-win position on Sunday – a tall task he did not fulfil.

Noble said the early exit left Dick Johnson Racing down in the dumps, achieving exactly what Supercars set out to do.

The former North Melbourne AFL club coach joked he was used to being out of finals contention.

“It’s normal for me in my background, but it’s new for our sport,” he said at Sandown.

“Our guys have been flat since Gold Coast. You’re out of the Finals and it does, it has an effect, it’s working. There is no doubt that that impact is what the competition needs.

“It’s what Supercars is after, and certainly, internally, you come to work on that week after you missed out quite deflated.

“Interestingly, having a chat to Mark Fenning (team manager), who has been in the industry for a long period of time, he said, ‘Is this normal?’ in regards to Finals – and it is. It’s deflating.

“You get to a point that you aspire to compete in Finals, that’s why they’re there. I think it increases competition, it increases standard, and when you miss out, you’re annoyed and you’re frustrated.”

Although Kostecki’s championship hopes have been dashed in his first season with Dick Johnson Racing, Noble said he expects the team to be a fly in the ointment.

“For us, this weekend, we come [to Sandown] wanting to win the race,” said Noble.

“There is no doubt, we need to be a disruptor, we need to get our backsides into gear and we need to get both cars out there getting in the way of the top seven, hopefully the top four, and coming away with a trophy this weekend would be great.”

Unlike some other sports that use a knock-out system, Kostecki remains in the competition – just not a championship contender.

Noble said the team has to take its remaining five races as an opportunity to build for the 2026 season.

“We still have work to do. When you exit [AFL] finals, you’re booking a holiday, whereas we have a luxury of still coming to race for another five races,” said Noble.

“The benefit is that you need to pick yourself up pretty quick, because if you do tend to come too deflated, you’ll get your backside whooped again when you get here.

“Preparation of the car needs to be at a high level. Pre-briefs still need to be at a high level, planning and strategy needs to be good.

“You can still win the race, we can still come here and salvage something from the year knowing that we didn’t get through to this last seven and get to the last four.

“There are still trophies to be won.”