Broc Feeney during the Perth Super440. Image: Mark Horsburgh
The team came into the weekend staring down the barrel of breaking its podiumless streak, which stood at eight races from the 2006 season.
Feeney ended a six-race run with his win on Saturday in Race 2 at Wanneroo Raceway and almost went back-to-back in Race 3.
However, an undercut by the Grove Ford ultimately denied the Triple Eight Mustang victory as Payne passed Feeney coming out of the pits.
“Obviously it would be very easy to be stoked with the amount that we’ve closed this weekend but I’m gutted,” Feeney said on the Fox Sports broadcast.
“Came that close to winning a race, so I’m pretty disappointed with that one.
“Proud of the effort. We’ve been nowhere for a couple of rounds. To be in the fight today is awesome, but I’m reeling that one.”
Feeney labelled Grove Racing the cream of the crop in Supercars.
Their pace and strategy nous was evident for Payne’s teammate Kai Allen, who rose from second-to-last all the way to fifth.
“We’re still not as fast as these guys,” said Feeney.
“The car is obviously so much better than what it has been and I think the super softer was probably better for us.
“Obviously has a fair bit of speed in that last stint but really struggled in the back end of those first two stints.
“I just want to thank the team. They’ve done a great job to put us in this position.
“When you feel like you have a win not too far away, to not get it is a bit disappointing.
“As I said, super proud of the gap that we’ve closed, but the racer in me wants to win.
“We’ll be back. We’ve made a big jump in one round, so no doubt we can keep getting close to these boys next to us.”
Feeney tempered his disappointment with a positive assessment of the team’sgains.
Triple Eight team principal Jamie Whincup told Speedcafe on Saturday that a reallocation of resources was behind the team’s uptick.
Nevertheless, anything less than winning won’t make Feeney happy.
“It’s funny – coming second or eighth doesn’t make much difference, you just want to win,” Feeney laughed.
“We have made a huge jump . There’s no doubt about that. As a team, we’re back in the fight this weekend, we’ve felt super competitive since Practice 1.
“We know how this series works these days. You’ve got to be strong at the back end of the year and I think this is the first round where we can positively say we’ve been pretty competitive since the start of the year.
“Huge steps forward. Still a long way to go. Obviously the important race is coming up, so looking forward to getting back to that.”