It was the highs and lows of sport in one grand finale.
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Jamie Whincup snatching the Supercars Championship title from overall leader Scott McLaughlin on the last lap of the season-ending Newcastle 500.
CALENDAR: Newcastle 500 date locked in for 2019
Almost one year on from that moment, and less than two months until the second edition of the Hunter event, the emotions still run high for both drivers who were in town on Friday to help promote the upcoming race.
“It was the scene of an unbelievable moment in my life and my sporting career without doubt,” Whincup told the Newcastle Herald.
“For it to come down to the last lap of the last race, unbelievable.”
It was a different vantage point for McLaughlin.
“It was weird being back [in Newcastle], driving around and seeing the track again,” McLaughlin said.
“The last memories I had here were pretty bad.”
McLaughlin, 25, would like to reverse the outcome in 2018 and claim his maiden Supercars crown at the Newcastle 500 on the weekend of November 24 and 25.
He sits second on this year’s Supercars standings and just 29 points behind Shane Van Gisbergen with three races remaining.
“I think it’s going to come down really close to the end [again],” he said.
“It would be huge [to win the title]. I guess a monkey off the back in some ways.
“I just wasn’t meant to win last year and hopefully this year we can turn the tables.”
Whincup, currently 404 points back in third and unlikely to defend the title, is still chasing that feeling.
“It was like hitting a six off the last ball or like chipping onto the green and rolling it in,” the 35-year-old said.
“It was an unbelievable feeling, but like all good things that happen in sport all you want to do is do it again. So you work hard to repeat it.”
