Triple Eight team manager Mark Dutton has claimed the opening-lap incident between Ryan Wood and Broc Feeney has denied Chaz Mostert the full accolades he deserves because he would have won the Supercars title either way. Mostert’s maiden championship has been shrouded in controversy, with many slamming the new finals format that meant Feeney’s dominant season went for nought.
There was also uproar over an incident with Feeney and Wood on Sunday in Adelaide that sent Feeney to the back of the pack. Wood, who is Mostert’s teammate, tried to get up the inside of Feeney but spun him around when the Triple Eight driver turned in.
Chaz Mostert’s Supercars triumph (R) was largely overshadowed by an incident with Broc Feeney and Ryan Wood (L). Image: Channel 7/Getty
Stewards hit Wood with a 15-second penalty and ruled he hadn’t made enough ground on Feeney to try and hold the position. Triple Eight were left seething over Wood’s actions, with team boss Jamie Whincup labelling it a “grubby” move.
Many suggested Wood was simply trying to wreak havoc with Feeney to help his teammate Mostert win the title, however Feeney admitted afterwards that he probably didn’t need to try and defend Wood so hard because he wasn’t even involved in the grand final. Tellingly, Feeney also admitted he wouldn’t have won the title anyway because of the engine issues that plagued him on both Saturday and Sunday.
Triple Eight manager says Chaz Mostert deserved better
Dutton made the same point on Sunday night and declared Mostert was always going to overtake Feeney due to the car problems. Dutton suggested the incident with Wood has unfairly taken some of the shine off Mostert’s title, who deserved better.
“I’m a bit disappointed for Chaz, he didn’t deserve to get crowned champion with that,” Dutton said on Supercars’ ‘Cool Down Lap’ podcast. “He could have won that on his own merit, but that was unfortunately taken away from him. I don’t think people see that side. Obviously from our side, yeah, we’ll look at what we can do better for next year.”
He said about the engine issues: “We’ve got to investigate a bit more. We think it was the same sensor issue as yesterday, even though obviously everything that could have been done was done. We need to analyse to really understand. Broc had amazing pace coming back through (after the Wood incident) until the engine issue kicked in.”
Chaz Mostert won his maiden Supercars title amid controversy. (Photo by Robert Cianflone/Getty Images)
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Ryan Wood defends actions after Broc Feeney incident
Feeney’s teammate Will Brown said Wood’s actions were “disappointing”, but Ryan Walkinshaw said he thought the blame was on Feeney for turning in. Wood said he thought Feeney “crowded” him and dismissed suggestions he was acting on behalf of Mostert.
“Obviously, apologies to Broc, because I know he’s worked so hard this year and his whole career. I hate to see that happened and be in the middle of something,” Wood told Channel 7. “I saw a gap and went for it and got crowded down, and [contact] obviously happened. I think 50 per cent of people are going to agree and 50 per cent are not.
“Obviously gutted that I got involved in something like that, but I just thought as soon as I saw the gap open, I was like, ‘this is my opportunity’ because yesterday he ran away from me when he got in front of me. I was here to win the race today and I feel like I gave myself the best opportunity to go that going for the gap on lap 1.”
Chaz Mostert makes most of new Supercars finals format
Feeney won 14 races this season and secured a record 19 pole positions. He’d been leading the championship since round four, and would have all-but run away with the title in previous years. But Supercars introduced a quarter-final, semi-final and grand final in 2025, which rewarded drivers for their performances in the elimination rounds.
Mostert only had one race victory before the finals series, but sacrificed the Bathurst 1000 to prioritise the new playoff format. It paid off in spades as Mostert won both races at the Gold Coast 500, before also winning the first race at the Sandown 500. He then clinched the title with a second-place finish in Adelaide on Sunday, as Feeney fell back to 20th due to his car troubles.