They patched up his Holden inside two hours after Whincup lost control going into The Cutting and ploughed into the wall during morning practice. A morning practice will be held today ahead of the afternoon top 10 shootout.
But don't bet your house on the pole-sitter winning Bathurst.
Mt Panorama is an unforgiving mistress who will destroy dreams at the drop of a hat. So, it is the best-prepared team, with the strongest car, the slickest crew, coupled with good drivers of course, that will win on the day. Oh, and let us not forget lady luck. Although part of the 14-round V8 Supercars championship, every driver and fan looks at the Bathurst race as a standalone event where reputations can be made.
It is almost impossible to pick a winner around that place and four-time winner Greg Murphy has often been heard to say, "You just don't ever know what exactly is going to happen around there on Sunday."
The championship is now in its second year where in the endurance rounds, teams are prohibited from pairing their regular championship series drivers in the same car. Each co-driver has to come from outside the V8 Supercar competition.
Lowndes and Mark Skaife, who between them have 11 Bathurst wins and about 41 starts, are the pairing to beat. However, at Bathurst statistics mean nothing and that old chestnut comes to mind - no matter how fast you are, or good on paper, to be first, first you must finish. Lowndes has his tail feathers up and thinks this race is a good opportunity to snatch the championship lead from Whincup.
"Winning at Phillip Island a couple of weeks ago was really worthwhile and everything went according to plan and I couldn't have wished for anything more," said Lowndes. "We got the one-two [L&H 500 and Bathurst 1000] last year and we're in good shape to do it again this year. Everything's going our way with car speed good.
"The potential's there to get another one-two but we have to get our strategy right. Mark [Skaife] showed at Phillip Island he's still got the goods and keen and eager to get it done again.
"Getting a win allows the possibility to getting in front of Jamie [Whincup] in the points race. We're looking at both angles this weekend. Not only a race win but the championship points as well and hopefully for us it'll be a win-win situation."
While the majority of eyes will be on the TeamVodafone pairing, New Zealand hopes will be with the Kiwi duo of Shane Van Gisbergen and John McIntyre. Stone Brothers Racing driver Van Gisbergen has a couple of wins under his belt now and has looked strong on the mountain in patches in the past, and now needs to put in a 1000km performance.
"It's an awesome track and a race I look forward to every year and I enjoy it," said Van Gisbergen. "We've had the fastest car in the last part of the race previously and we had a good race last year until the last part that time. We've just got to put a whole race together and hope for the best.
"The car's been great the last couple of races and it suits John as well. He's been in the top five of the co-drivers in the past and hopefully will be again this weekend."
You can never leave out of the equation another Kiwi, and a four-time winner to boot, Murphy. There is something about the place that brings the best out of him.
V8 Supercar points
* Jamie Whincup 2145
* Craig Lowndes 2053
* Shane van Gisbergen 1716
* Rick Kelly 1585
* Garth Tander 1548
* Will Davison 1544
* Mark Winterbottom 1477
* Steven Johnson 1411
- additional reporting AAP
