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Short was all smiles on Sunday evening after Feeney stormed to the race win and snatched the Sprint Cup trophy from the grasp of a luckless Matt Payne. But Feeney’s long-time right-hand man had bigger things on his mind across the weekend, as he revealed in the aftermath. “My partner Bree is 40-and-a-half weeks pregnant, so I’ve been on standby waiting for a phone call,” he said. “She could pop at any minute. Obviously, if that happened, I would have gone and been there for her. So a big thanks to her for keeping the baby in! “Obviously exciting times ahead, but I’m glad I got to be here for the weekend and get that Sprint Cup.” Sunday’s race also had its moments of stress for the Brisbane-based Kiwi. Feeney took the lead from pole-sitting teammate Will Brown by boldly hanging on around the outside during the opening three corners. Brodie Kostecki emerged as Feeney’s biggest threat as the race went on and a decision to run long in the second stint almost brought car #88 undone. Feeney became frustrated as cars on fresher tyres began to attack before Short finally pulled him in – emerging just over a second ahead of Kostecki. “I think we had a bad fuel hookup in the second stop,” Short explained when asked of the tighter than expected margin on pit exit. “Obviously some cars came out with fresh tyres and were passing us, so we lost [the gap] probably a bit on a couple of in-laps. “In hindsight we probably could have come a couple laps earlier to protect [from] Brodie. We were just trying to get tyre in-hand.” Regardless, it was a commanding performance and a deeply satisfying way to take the Sprint Cup crown for a second successive year. “It’s definitely confidence-inspiring going into the finals season,” said Short, who shared the heartbreak of championship defeat with Feeney last year. “We started off very strong with some wins at SMP and a win at AGP, and then it’s been a real struggle with the Ford. “Obviously we’re finding some form in the last few rounds and getting better and better, learning what the car needs. “I’m really happy with where we’re at. We still need to fine-tune the car, we weren’t the fastest car in qualifying in [Saturday’s] races. “We’re still pushing forward, we still need to keep developing.”