A troubled Gold Coast 500 has the Triple Eight driver fifth in the standings heading to Sandown, with just four drivers set to transfer to the Adelaide Grand Final.
Broc Feeney leads the championship race from Chaz Mostert, Matt Payne, Cam Waters and Brown, while Kai Allen and Thomas Randle complete the seven contenders.
The latest reset and application of seeding points mean Brown is only 12 points behind Waters, while leader Feeney is 84 ahead.
Finals drivers can transfer through to Adelaide on points or through winning either of the 250km Sandown races.
How Supercars points standings sit ahead of Sandown Semi-Final
Brown would be a surprise omission from the final four given his status as reigning champion and position within the powerhouse Triple Eight team.
However, his 2025 campaign has been blighted by continued qualifying struggles and a smattering of mistakes – including qualifying and Shootout crashes on the Gold Coast.
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“Scrappy is probably a nice way to put it,” Brown said of his Gold Coast weekend, where he fought back to finish fifth and eighth in the respective races.
“To be honest, it was a very average showing on my behalf, I think especially in qualifying, not even just due to pace.
“I think we had the pace, and in the Shootout, we were looking really good, but just hit the fence, made a mistake, and did the same on Sunday, unfortunately.”
While race pace has repeatedly been the saviour for Brown this season, he’s hopeful that charging through the field won’t be necessary at Sandown.
He scored pole at the Melbourne venue with Erebus Motorsport in 2023 and again with Triple Eight last year, when he went on to win the Sandown 500 alongside co-driver Scott Pye.
Triple Eight has in fact won 11 of the last 12 Supercars races held at Sandown, dating back to 2018.
“I think that we can have a good showing and win a race there,” said Brown, whose 2024 Sandown 500 win came after a spirited battle with teammate Feeney.
“Triple Eight is very strong there, we’ve been very strong there, so it’s my most confident track.
“I knew going into Gold Coast that would be a harder track that, you know, we really had to get through that round.
“But I think for us, I’m feeling more confident going into Sandown than I was Gold Coast.”
Triple Eight, Grove Racing and Tickford Racing each have two drivers left in the Finals fight, while Chaz Mostert is the lone ranger for Walkinshaw Andretti United.
That leaves Mostert’s teammate, Ryan Wood, as a potential rear-gunner – a particularly tasty prospect given his clash with Brown at Ipswich earlier this year.
“It’s really hard to know how to race in these Finals, because how you race someone is how you’re going to get raced back,” said Brown.
“So, you don’t want to be too crazy, because you probably need a few friends on your side going into Adelaide if you make it through.
“So, you know, we’ll try to keep it clean, pass people as normal, race as normal, and get through that way.”
Everything you need to know about the Supercars Finals Series
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