Winterbottom cool on contract talks

The 2015 Supercars champ is now in the final year of his contract, which leaves him as the only one of the team's four drivers not committed beyond the end of the season thanks to Chaz Mostert's recent extension.

He's also coming off his first winless season since joining the Tickford squad, then known as Ford Performance Racing, way back in 2006.

While making no secret that he plans to continue next season, Winterbottom says his current focus is on breaking his winless streak rather than a new deal.

Once he's back to winning races, Winterbottom says the rest will 'sort itself out'.

"I'm not bothered," he told Motorsport.com.

"I'll be racing next year, for sure. The focus is to win races; that's what the team wants to see, and that's what I want to see. The team's expectation of me is to win races, and my expectation of the team is to give me the car to win races.

"All the other stuff sorts itself out. The focus is to knuckle down and do what I've done the last 11 years, bar last year, and be in contention for the championship with a couple of rounds to go.

"Then the other stuff sorts itself out pretty easily."

Winterbottom added that, while knowing how important it is to end his negative streak, he's not feeling burdened by the lack of wins last year.

"I didn't feel like a win was too far away at the last few rounds. We were qualifying up the front, we were getting on top of things," he said.

"The main people who look at statistics are journalists. As a driver, even if I win five races in a year I want to win a sixth. You always want to win races. I'd love to win one this season. But if I win one, everyone will talk about Craig Lowndes not winning one. And when he wins, it goes to the next guy. It's just a stat.

"At the same time, to win the championship you've got to win races.

"That's my focus; making sure we're winning regularly again and in that top spot. That's the main focus."