The 2006 V8 Supercar Championship has not quite been decided after Triple Eight forced stewards to have another look at the incident that saw Rick Kelly tip Craig Lowndes into a spin and effectively eliminate him from the title race.

In what had already been a tense weekend at the Phillip Island Grand Finale as Kelly's championship lead was gradually nibbled away, the two went into the final race of the season on equal footing, setting up a tantilising showdown.

And dramatic the race certainly was when on the second lap of the race, Kelly made contact with Lowndes, forcing him into a spin that would also collect brother Todd Kelly. Worse for Lowndes though was Will Davison, who had nowhere to go but to slam into the front of his fellow Ford counterpart and heavily damage him.

Although Kelly was given a drive-through penalty for his part in the incident, he was able to continue while Lowndes was forced to limp round for the remainder of the race with an ill-handling car, allowing his rival to take the title despite finishing only 18th.

However, while stewards had initially deemed Kelly's mid-race penalty as sufficient, Lowndes' Triple Eight team have instead lodged an official complaint which will mean there will be no confirmation of the champion for another day.

“The penalty was based on a determination by the stewards that there was a breach of the rules in terms of careless driving by Rick Kelly. After some further consideration the matter was further considered by the IPO of the race,” Chief steward Steve Chopping said.

“He considered a great deal of data, in car footage and other things concerning the in-car activities of car 15 and car 888 and whilst the IPO investigated those things Triple Eight lodged a protest against the penalty imposed in the race.

“Now that the IPO has determined that the matter doesn't warrant being referred to the stewards for further penalty the stewards will now refer to the hearing of the Triple Eight protest.”