Ranked: The best solo wildcard performances

Zane Goddard will become the latest driver to be thrown into the deep end as a wildcard at next weekend’s betr Darwin Triple Crown.

Goddard will race the #888 Supercheap Auto Camaro out of the Triple Eight stable in his first solo starts in three years.

Privateer entries were no stranger to Supercars prior to 2017, before drivers were permitted to compete in solo events either out of main game teams or Super2 teams.

Several drivers have gone on to secure main game drives, with some banging down the door of a future in the main game.

Triple Eight is hoping Goddard can do the same, given the team’s Bathurst wildcard paved the way for Broc Feeney and Declan Fraser.

Between 2017 and 2022, some drivers have raised eyebrows with impressive performances.

Supercars.com has scoured though the results to find the five highest finishes by a solo wildcard since 2017.

5) Thomas Randle, 16th to 11th (Darwin 2021)

Randle is now a full-time driver for Tickford Racing, and two standout results came on a weekend the team confirmed his ascension to the main game for 2022.

The Victorian made his solo debut in 2019 at The Bend, and scored a Sandown 500 podium with Lee Holdsworth later that year.

Come 2021, and Randle was a Super2 champion, and raced to 11th in the finale, highlighted by a dive-bomb on Anton De Pasquale.

4) Thomas Randle, 17th to 9th (Darwin 2021)

A day earlier, Randle raced from 17th to ninth in a thrilling race headlined by a first-lap, first corner pile-up.

Randle, then aged just 25, showed maturity beyond his years to keep his nose clean and come home ninth.

3) Thomas Randle, 14th to 8th (The Bend 2021)

A few weeks earlier, Randle pulled off a similar Houdini move when a pile-up sent the field into a frenzy.

Cam Waters, Chaz Mostert and Tim Slade were all wiped out in a crazy moment, with Randle scything through to finish eighth.

2) Kurt Kostecki, 15th to 6th (Darwin 2021)

Aboard a Walkinshaw Andretti United wildcard Commodore, Kostecki followed Randle through to miss the first-lap chaos.

Remarkably, Kostecki finished sixth behind brother Jake, who was competing full-time for Matt Stone Racing.

1) Zak Best, 1st to 5th (The Bend 2022)

The benchmark, when it comes to solo wildcard performances, is overwhelmingly Best’s showing at The Bend last year.

Out of nowhere, Best sailed to a shock ARMOR ALL Pole Position, beating Shane van Gisbergen, no less.

At the time, Best was the youngest ever Supercars pole winner in Supercars, and held his own to finish fifth.

Best even battled with van Gisbergen and teammate Waters, and kept his head to bring home a top five finish — still the best solo finish by a wildcard.

Solo wildcard performances (2017-22)

James Golding16th, 25th (Winton 2017)24th, 21st (Queensland Raceway 2017)

Jack Le Brocq19th, 22nd (Darwin 2017)19th, DNF (Queensland Raceway 2017)

Shae Davies18th, 24th (Winton 2017)25th, 22nd (Queensland Raceway 2017)

Macauley Jones20th, 23rd (Winton 2017)24th, 24th (Darwin 2017)27th, 24th (Darwin 2018)25th, 19th (The Bend 2018)

Todd Hazelwood22nd, 18th (Queensland Raceway 2017)

Jack Smith23rd, 24th (Tasmania 2019)24th, 21st (Winton 2019)20th, 25th (Darwin 2019)22nd, 26th (The Bend 2019)

Tim Blanchard21st, 18th (Perth 2019)

Thomas Randle17th, 17th (The Bend 2019)17th, 8th, 15th (The Bend 2021)9th, 25th, 11th (Darwin 2021)22nd, 15th, 26th (Sydney 2021)

Kurt Kostecki25th, 23rd (Queensland Raceway 2018)27th, DNF (The Bend 2018)19th, 16th, 23rd (The Bend 2021)6th, 23rd, 17th (Darwin 2021)25th, 19th, 21st (Sydney 2021)

Jayden Ojeda17th, 22nd, 21st (Winton 2022)17th, 23rd, DNF (Darwin 2022)

Jordan Boys25th, 25th, 24th (Winton 2022)25th, 11th, 16th (The Bend 2022)

Zak Best21st, 21st, DNF (Darwin 2022)5th, 19th, DNF (The Bend 2022)