While major spoils slipped through their grasps, Kiwi hopes Richie Stanaway, Matt Payne and Andrew Heimgartner have used home advantage to improve their standings in the 2024 Supercars championship.
None of them could claim Taupō 400 victory on Sunday, with Aussie Will Brown extending his lead atop the standings from teammate Broc Feeney in Race Eight, but all made moves within the top 10 overall.
Payne enjoyed pole position at the start and led early, but fell back through the field to finish fourth. A firm fan favourite entering the weekend, he failed to reach the podium, after 13th on Saturday, but now sits fifth in the championship.
"Not too bad a result today," he reflected. "I'll take it... it's good points, but probably not so good when you're starting from first.
"We probably didn't quite have the car today and struggled with the tyre life, but we'll get there. We're a work in progress and we're not giving up at all.
"It's very positive to have the speed in qualifying and put ourselves in a good position for the race."
After a hiatus from the Aussie motorsport circuit, Stanaway helped Shane van Gisbergen to Bathurst 1000 victory last November and has returned to a fulltime drive with Grove Racing, now sitting fourth in the championship.
On Saturday, he improved from 23rd on the grid to sixth at the finish and backed that up with 13th on Sunday.
"Bit of a mixed weekend for us, just held back by qualifying form," admitted Stanaway. "We've really got to work on that.
"It's been probably a career highlight for me in terms of support from fans here at the track. I've never felt that much support before - it's been incredible."
Heimgartner took honours in the rain on Saturday and finished sixth on Sunday, narrowly missing out on the Jason Richards Trophy for best driver of the weekend - that went to Anton de Pasquale. Those two performances have boosted him to 10th on championship standings.
"I actually got geed up a bit - they tole me I needed two more spots and I got two spots, but I ended up needing another one.
"Incredibly proud of our team this weekend, getting that win yesterday was very special."
A crowd of 67,411 attended the Taupō 400, as Supercars returned to New Zealand, after missing out in 2023. They are committed to the central North Island town for another two years.
Next stop on the Supercars schedule is May 17-19 at Perth.
