Autocar's favourite races: 2017 Australia Supercars Championship Newcastle 500

Most likely to stop him is the young Kiwi Scott McLaughlin in a Ford Falcon, 30 points behind him. But if Whincup does what he does best, he can have it all wrapped it all up by Saturday night.

Only he doesn’t. Instead, a tangle on the opening lap of Saturday’s race puts Whincup in the pits for repairs for so long that, when he rejoins, he’s 13 laps down. He finishes dog last on the road.

So as the sun comes up over New South Wales on Sunday, it’s McLaughlin with a 78-point lead and one hand on the trophy. All he has to do is finish the 250km race in 11th position or better.

He leads the opening spell and pits on lap 14, emerging again in front. Job done? Alas, no. In his hurry he exceeds the pit lane speed limit and cops a drive through penalty, landing him outside the top 20.

He races back through until he comes across one of the Altimas, driven by Simona de Silvestro, who has been repeatedly carving some great overtakes through an S-bend complex and has hauled her Nissan into 10th. McLaughlin attempts a clumsy overtake, hits the rear quarter of the Nissan, turning it around and landing himself another penalty – a 15 second hold at his next pit stop.

That puts him outside the top 20 again but still, remarkably, all’s not lost. Newcastle is a city circuit with concrete walls and not only are mistakes punished hard, it usually takes a safety car to clear them.

McLaughlin works his way to 16th before one safety car comes spell compresses the field and, by the time a second safety car stint is needed (they’re better drivers than I’m making this crash-fest sound), McLaughlin is in 13th.

Whincup is leading but that doesn’t matter because, two passes after the restart later, McLaughlin is in the 11th place he needs to bag the title.

The only potential problem for McLaughlin is that Whincup’s veteran team-mate Craig Lowndes is right behind him in 12th, on the fresh tyres he grabbed during the last safety car spell, with the specific instruction to chase McLaughlin down. But if Scotty can keep Lowndes back there, he takes his first championship.

It’s the penultimate lap. McLaughlin gets a little loose into turn one, Lowndes gets much better traction off the bend and has a run on McLaughlin down the next straight. Knowing the danger, Scotty, in car number 17 gives Lowndes a small squeeze, then even more of one, which edges Lowndes over, over, and as the track narrows – bang! – Lowndes is into the concrete wall.

Lowndes’ front left wheel comes off skewed and, as he tries to accelerate, the suspension gives itself up, it turns him around and he slams backwards into the barrier. McLaughlin completes the next two laps in 11th but even as Whincup crosses the line in first the screen graphic flashes up “under investigation – car #17”.