Whincup and Shane van Gisbergen finished first and third on the time charts respectively following two sessions on the opening day of the season-ending event, as Red Bull Holden look to make up 116 points in the race for the team title.

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"This track [Newcastle] is difficult to get around at the best of times and it was swinging around quite a bit with 40 kilometre per hour winds," Whincup said.

"It was definitely menacing the car a fair bit so while it's great to sit up here in the middle [today] I don't think many people really got the maximum out of their cars.

"We need to make a game of it tomorrow to be in the same position."

On a day when many drivers clipped walls and went down escape routes, Whincup described the environment as "very difficult" and said cars were "changing from corner to corner".

And while the individual Supercars prize is already off the table at this year's Newcastle 500, with Scott McLaughlin wrapping up back-to-back crowns last round, Whincup remains determined to reel in Shell V-Power and clinch one trophy for 2019.

"It would mean a lot [to win the team title]," Whincup, who collected his most recent solo championship in Newcastle two years ago, said.

"In the same way we'd love the biggest trophy of the year, the driver championship, that's unfortunately gone so the second biggest trophy for the year is the team championship. So we'll do absolutely everything we can within the rules to make sure we get there."

On his 17^th and final lap of the second, half-hour practice session, Whincup stopped the clock at one minute and 10.3173 seconds. McLaughlin (1:10.3839) was fourth fastest.

Qualifying takes place at 10:50am on Saturday followed by a top-10 shootout (1:15pm) and race 31 (4:15pm). Timings are similar on Sunday.

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