Popular opinion has it that only three cars can win this year's Bathurst 1000.
Triple Eight Racing's Jamie Whincup and Craig Lowndes are the deserved favourites, aiming to become the first Ford drivers to win three straight titles at Mount Panorama in over 40 years.
Ford Performance Racing's Mark Winterbottom and Steven Richards are the next best bet, with great speed, talent and a good showing at last year's event.
And then there's the Commodore of reigning V8 Supercar champion Garth Tander and five-time Bathurst winner Mark Skaife.
The Holden Racing Team pair banded together to win the inaugural Phillip Island 500 last month, breaking a Ford stranglehold at the endurance events dating back to 2005 when Skaife won his fifth Bathurst crown, alongside Todd Kelly.
"Realistically there are only three teams in the running and we're one of them. We're going to give it everything we've got," Richards said.
But there's an interesting dynamic involving all three teams which could become a factor, with one driver from each well and truly in the running for the V8 Supercars championship.
Should a 50-50 situation arise late in the race, these teams could just take the cautious option, leaving the door ajar for their less fancied rivals.
Tander (2096 points) leads the championship standings from Winterbottom (2043) and Whincup (2016).
Skaife, Richards and Lowndes are more or less out of the running but still have to think about the team.
"I'm definitely championship motivated and it'd be fair to say that Craig's Bathurst motivated," Whincup admitted.
"Of course we both we want to finish as high up in the championship as possible and of course I'd love to win Bathurst again, being the holy grail of our sport, but we both have different priorities at this stage."
Lowndes, nine years Whincup's senior at 34, insisted he wouldn't be doing anything stupid if it meant hampering his teammate's championship title shot.
"I think everyone agrees that if you're not in contention for the championship then you definitely want to win one of the endurance races. It does make a year of poor performances or mechanical issues a lot brighter, that's for sure," said Lowndes.
"But it's one of those things. You always want to finish and score points, more importantly for Jamie because he's right up there in the championship.
"Bathurst can either make or break your championship, we've seen that many times."
When Tander was asked which he would prefer this year, a Bathurst or championship win, the West Australian said: "Both. To be honest it would be fantastic to do both in one year.
"Having won the Phillip Island race, if we could pull all three off it would be awesome. One or the other or both would be ideal.
"We didn't have any dramas mechanically or crash-wise in Philip Island so the lead into Bathurst is really good.
"For me, I just can't to wait till it gets here. It's the world's best touring car race, there's no two ways about that now."
