Ford star Mark Winterbottom will return to his happy hunting ground of Winton confident he can continue to push up the Supercars leaderboard after a "horrendous" start to the season.
While 31 points separates the top five headed by DJR Team Penske's Fabian Coulthard, there is a gap between Winterbottom (648) and Prodrive Racing Australia teammate Chaz Mostert, who is locked with Scott McLaughlin on 771.
After posting just one top 10 finish from the opening four races of the season, improved performances at Phillip Island and Perth have helped propel Winterbottom up the drivers' standings.
"It's been getting better, which is good because the start of the year was horrendous really," Winterbottom told AAP.
"I think we're progressing in the right direction but we are still probably just a fraction behind.
"We keep getting better as the weekend goes on so we're doing the right things, we just need to get that direction a bit quicker."
Winterbottom claimed victories at Winton in 2014 and 2015 - the year he won the championship.
"We've had seven podiums (at Winton) in the last seven races, which is a pretty good stat," he said.
But with a different lead-up to racing on his home track, adaptability is going to play a bigger role than history.
"Normally we test before we get there and this year we haven't tested," Winterbottom said.
"It's a little bit different to previous years but hopefully it's still good to us."
The track is in its second year after being resurfaced, which Winterbottom expects to create a small amount of tyre degradation, making strategy key.
"There's lots of things that normally at Winton don't change, but I think it will now purely because the surface and a new tyre it's going to be different," he said.
"What we ran last year set-up wise is completely different to what we've run the previous 10 years there.
"I wouldn't be surprised to roll out and have to be changing the car to chase something instead of having a good base like you normally do up there.
"It should be a bit tougher this year than normal."
Winterbottom, who has spent 12 years in Supercars, will turn 36 on Saturday but is not considering retirement while he believes he can still push for another title.
"I'm not getting wheeled to the car yet so I'm in good shape," he said.
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