Whincup eyes record-tying 5th V8 title Sport Breaking News Sport National Motorsport December 8, 2013 - 5:08AM Only a disaster will stop Jamie Whincup from claiming a record-tying fifth V8 Supercars title on Sunday. But, unfortunately for him, that's a common occurance on the unforgiving streets of Sydney Olympic Park. The Holden star holds a 110-point lead over his teammate and last remaining championship rival Craig Lowndes, after cruising to victory in a dramatic opener to this year's Sydney 500. If Lowndes manages to win the season-ending race on Sunday, Whincup only needs to finish 22nd or better to join the late Ian Geoghegan, Dick Johnson and Mark Skaife as the only other five-time champions in Australian touring car history. It might seem like an easy task for a man who's had 74 race wins and nearly double the number of podium finishes. But with five cars failing to finish Saturday's twilight race and 30-plus degree temperatures forecast, anything is possible. "It's so easy to DNF around this around this place," Whincup said. The best place to be to stay out of the carnage is up the front. So we'll certainly be trying to stay up front as long as we can. I'm not going to fall over and cruise around - I'm here to race. Punters pay $100 to get in the gate and want to see something good, so I'm going to have crack.