Stock Cars Australia Championship 2024: Scott Nind Dominates at Winton 300 Weekend

A fine weekend, a big field, and some great racing marked the Stock Cars Australia Championship as it rolled into Winton Motor Raceway as part of the annual Winton 300 meeting. Once again, the field showcased the diversity of the series, featuring a mix of classic NASCAR-style stock cars, NASCAR-styles trucks (OZTrucks), a TA2 Dodge Challenger and a growing number of Aussie-style AUSCARs from the golden days of the Calder Park Thunderdome.

Qualifying was a short, sharp 15-minute affair on a crisp but fine winter morning. Jeff Stubbs, driving a TA2 Dodge Challenger, adapted to the slippery conditions quickest to take pole, edging out the ex-Xfinity Series Mustang of Scott Nind.

The New South Wales OzTruck pair of Brendan Hourigan and Danny Burgess followed, while the Commodore of Lukas Gates led a trio of Holdens in AUSCAR.

In Race One, after a second formation lap, it was Nind in the Mustang who made the best start, leading Stubbs and the rest of the field into Turn One. Hourigan had Burgess close behind, with Richard White in the Dale Earnhardt Jr. Budweiser tribute car trailing in fifth. Nind opened up a good gap on the TA2 Dodge and the rest of the field, but that evaporated when a safety car was called following the on-track retirement of Colin Maton’s Commodore. After some fast work by the Winton recovery crew, the race returned to green just one lap later.

Nind again pulled away from the field, but Stubbs found himself under pressure from the battling OzTrucks. Thankfully for the TA2 driver, Hourigan was occupied with trying to hold off Burgess. The orange Silverado challenged in the twisty sections, only to have the #51 pull away on the straights.

Nind secured a comfortable win ahead of Stubbs, with Hourigan just holding off Burgess in the fight for third. Gates survived a 5-second penalty to lead home the AUSCAR brigade.

Conditions were nearly perfect for Race Two, which played out almost identically to the first race, albeit with somewhat wider margins. Nind again won the start and raced to a comfortable lead. Stubbs held second in the Dodge but, after an early challenge from Hourigan, edged away from the OzTruck.

The closest fight was between the Chev Monte Carlos of Daniel Stubbs and Richard White, with Stubbs coming out on top in their race-long battle.

Gates again won the local AUSCAR battle, leading home fellow Commodore runner Colin Maton, who returned after his first-race retirement.

Sunday saw another flag-to-flag victory for Nind’s Mustang, once again leading home Jeff Stubbs and Brendan Hourigan. However, the highlight of the race was the battle between Daniel Stubbs, Richard White, and this time, the Lumina of Jake Frisch and Rob Marchese in the OzTruck Silverado.

White won the start and led the first lap, but a spin at the end of lap one allowed Frisch’s Dale Earnhardt Sr.-liveried car to pass him and take the lead by the end of lap two. Daniel Stubbs then took the lead in the battle as Frisch and White fell back into the clutches of the pickup.

Fifteen cars started, and all fifteen finished, with Nind once again in a class of his own, followed by Jeff Stubbs and Brendan Hourigan.

The fourth race saw the top eight reversed, so it was White’s #8 car that led a field of 13 under the green. All eyes were on how quickly Nind could bring the Mustang back to the front, and the answer was: not very long at all.

By the end of the second lap, the Mustang had already moved into second place, and by lap three, it was situation normal with Nind in total control. White held on for second until the fourth lap when he was overtaken by Hourigan in the OzTruck. White hung on for a close third, just holding off Daniel Stubbs’ Monte Carlo and Jeff Stubbs’ TA2 Dodge.

In the AUSCAR fight, Colin Maton took the win, with Chris Robertson in the XF Falcon.

The next round of the championship sees the cars return to their Australian spiritual home at Calder Park on September 27-29.

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