The Grove Racing driver wound up with 147 points to lead Walkinshaw Andretti United’s Chaz Mostert, who was the other race winner on Saturday, by 33 points.
Mostert might have been closer in the standings if not for an incident with Tickford Racing’s Thomas Randle, who spun the #25 Ford Mustang early in Race 8.
Dick Johnson Racing driver Will Davison sits third, 35 points off the lead with Mostert’s teammate Ryan Wood not far behind at a 38-point deficit.
Will Brown completes the top five, 41 points in arrears.
A maximum 145 points are on offer for Sunday’s action.
Payne could join Shane van Gisbergen and Scott McLaughlin as New Zealanders to have won the JR Trophy.
The young gun said he’s well aware of what’s at stake on Sunday.
“We’ve got a really good shot at having a good day tomorrow,” said Payne.
“I don’t see any reason why we couldn’t jump on pole position again and lead every lap.
“That’s going to be our aim tomorrow and we’ll just take each process as it is.
Qualifying for Race 10 is at 8:35am AEST followed by the Top 10 Shootout at 10:50am AEST.
Race 10 is slated for 1:05pm AEST.
Jason Richards Memorial Trophy points (After Race 9)
| Pos | Driver | Points | Diff |
| 1 | Matt Payne | 147 | |
| 2 | Chaz Mostert | 114 | -33 |
| 3 | Will Davison | 112 | -35 |
| 4 | Ryan Wood | 109 | -38 |
| 5 | Will Brown | 106 | -41 |
| 6 | Cameron Waters | 101 | -46 |
| 7 | Brodie Kostecki | 100 | -47 |
| 8 | Andre Heimgartner | 90 | -57 |
| 9 | Jack Le Brocq | 88 | -59 |
| 10 | Kai Allen | 87 | -60 |
| 11 | Broc Feeney | 82 | -65 |
| 12 | Anton De Pasquale | 78 | -69 |
| 13 | Thomas Randle | 67 | -80 |
| 14 | James Golding | 60 | -87 |
| 15 | David Reynolds | 56 | -91 |
| 16 | Cameron Hill | 56 | -91 |
| 17 | Bryce Fullwood | 55 | -92 |
| 18 | Nick Percat | 43 | -104 |
| 19 | Jaxon Evans | 37 | -110 |
| 20 | Richie Stanaway | 36 | -111 |
| 21 | James Courtney | 29 | -118 |
| 22 | Aaron Cameron | 28 | -119 |
| 23 | Cooper Murray | 26 | -121 |
| 24 | Macauley Jones | 23 | -124 |
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