Lowndes is facing his worst championship finish in 13 years as he enters this weekend’s Gold Coast 600 in seventh spot on the standings.

According to Supercars research, the 43-year-old veteran is still the category’s most popular driver despite the recent dominance of Triple Eight Race Engineering teammates Jamie Whincup and Shane van Gisbergen.

Lowndes, a three-time champion, has struggled in qualifying this year and faces finishing outside the top four in the championship for the first time since 2004 (20th).

But the Team Vortex driver believes he can get back to his best and has three rounds left to find momentum before the off-season.

“Absolutely, there is no doubt (I can get back to my best),” Lowndes said.

“We haven’t had a podium or win this year and we really want to make sure we can do that before the end of the season.

“(I need to be) better in qualifying. Our qualifying has been below par. We need to clean that up before we can look at podiums.

“We’ve got three rounds remaining. We want to make sure we can make the most of it.

“I just want to make sure we finish off (the back end of my career) on a positive note and still being competitive.”

Lowndes has claimed one podium in 2017 but the Tasmania race was abandoned and no points were awarded.

It has been more than a year since his last race win at the Ipswich Super Sprint and Lowndes is desperate to add another surfboard to his trophy cabinet this weekend.

“A podium would be great for us. I would be delighted,” he said.

“We came out of Bathurst disappointed (11th). We were really looking for a strong result and didn’t get it.

“We’re really looking forward to the Gold Coast. We really want to have a strong result.

“We’ve only got three rounds left and we need to make the most of it. We need some momentum before we go into 2018.”

The expansion of Triple Eight to a three-car team saw Whincup and van Gisbergen remain under the Red Bull banner and Lowndes shift to Team Vortex.

He has formed a new combination with engineer John McGregor and said they were in a learning phase.

“In a sense we are a little team,” he said.

“Irish (McGregor) is a bit of a learner in the engineering side of it but has learned a lot over the course of 12 months.

“You’re never going to be able to have good years every year. This year we’re fighting to get into sixth position. If we can finish there we will be very happy.”

Practice begins at the Surfers Paradise street circuit tomorrow.