V8 push into US needs tweak Garth Tander leads the way during race 16 of the Austin 400, which is round five of the V8 Supercar Championship Series, at Circuit of The Americas in Austin, Texas. To describe V8 Supercars' first visit to the US as an unqualified success for anyone but reigning champion Jamie Whincup would be stretching the truth. Whincup dominated the four-race Austin 400, which despite its flaws, was easily the most successful of V8's attempts to establish a showcase international event. While the visiting V8s attracted a claimed three-day attendance of nearly 69,000, there is plenty of room for improvement. The racing fell short as an action-packed spectacle, mainly because the shortened version of the Circuit Of The Americas track made overtaking among the front-runners rare. The official attendance, although greeted with circumspection if not scepticism, was a good start, dwarfing crowds in China, Bahrain and Abu Dhabi. The healthy first-time turnout rivalled smaller V8 events in Australia, but its following will need to grow considerably and quickly. The Circuit Of The Americas reportedly pays V8 Supercars $6.5 million in sanctioning and transport fees, so - as they say in America - do the math. To attract a three-day attendance more like the 131,000 at the track's recent round of the MotoGP world motorcycle championship, the V8 racers, the racing format and the circuit will need a tweak. Overall, the Austin 400 was promising but problematic for V8 racing in America, laying a solid foundation for a 2014 return that is highly likely but not guaranteed. Whincup won three of the four 100-kilometre races in his Triple Eight Holden Commodore. He and his evergreen teammate Craig Lowndes and interloper Fabian Coulthard locked out the podium placings in all four races, with only Coulthard snapping Whincup's streak with victory in the third leg in his Brad Jones Racing Commodore. The battle for the lead in that race, which briefly included luckless Ford driver Mark Winterbottom, the victim of yet another bungled pit stop while leading, was a rare racing highlight. It was so torrid and tense that Coulthard, Lowndes and Whincup were each penalised 30 championship points for the same rule infringement at the frantic restart from a safety car period. In record-breaking spring temperatures, Whincup stretched his hot streak to five wins from his last seven starts and extended his title lead over Lowndes to 142 points. The boss of the $400 million Circuit Of The Americas, built for formula one's return to the US last November, would not commit fully to a V8 Supercars event next year, despite a five-year agreement. "That's our plan," said COTA president and CEO Steve Sexton, avoiding a definitive undertaking. However, Sexton was positive about V8's debut and expressed a desire to build awareness to secure the event's long-term future.