"Tainted forever."

Those are the damning words from a rival Supercars boss about Kiwi Scott McLaughlin's maiden Bathurst 1000 win this year.

The brilliant McLaughlin, who has stormed to successive Supercars titles, had long coveted a Bathurst victory but the aftermath has left a bitter taste in his mouth.

His DJR Team Penske was heavily penalised at Mt Panorama over safety car tactics. An engine breach was later discovered, causing McLaughlin to be relegated to the back of the grid in the just-raced Sandown 500 in Melbourne. His Bathurst pole position was also scrubbed from the books.

It denied McLaughlin any chance of claiming the title with a victory. McLaughlin and Premat ran quietly in the middle of the pack for much of the day but did enough to put the title beyond doubt a round early in a rather circumspect manner. They were issued a 15-second time penalty along the way for a refuelling infringement at their first pitstop.

Jamie Whincup and Craig Lowndes won the race after Kiwi driver Shane van Gisbergen was forced to pit while leading with 10 laps remaining.

For Whincup and Lowndes, it was their first Sandown 500 win together in 12 years.

Scott McLaughlin drives the 17 Shell V-Power Racing Team Ford Mustang. Photo /Getty

Lowndes and Whincup won their Saturday sprint races and then took out the 500km main event to score maximum points, but it had seemed as though they would have to settle for second. Van Gisbergen exited from his final pitstop with a 10-second buffer, but just as a third straight Red Bull one-two finish loomed, his Commodore gave way at the right rear.

Chaz Mostert/James Moffat and Lee Holdsworth/Thomas Randle finished in distant second and third placings respectively.

McLaughlin wasn't exactly ecstatic with the result and title outcome. After his Bathurst title, DJR Team Penske were hit with heavy sanctions including the largest fine in Supercars history for asking Fabian Coulthard to deliberately slow behind a pace car while McLaughlin was leading late in the race.

The late call to punish him today only added to his frustrations.

"It's been a pretty tough month. Obviously things happen…we'll just push on as a team. I'm so proud of everyone. I don't want to take away from Jamie and their crew they did a great job all weekend. For me right now we're subdued because we know we've got another one to run and we really want to win that one. It's nice to roll into Newcastle with a full head of steam and be somewhat relaxed about it," McLaughlin said after the race.

The ninth placing leaves McLaughlin on 3648 championship points, an unassailable lead from van Gisbergen who is 541 points back in second, with one event remaining in Newcastle in a fortnight.

McLaughlin joins the likes of Norm Beechey, Glenn Seton and Marcos Ambrose to win two Supercars titles. Whincup was the last driver to go back-to-back in 2013 and 2014.

Red Bull Holden Racing Team boss Roland Dane was full of praise for McLaughlin's driving which has seen him crush the opposition to win the 2019 Supercars title before the finale in Newcastle. But Dane also slammed Team Penske.

"Unfortunately it is a lightweight penalty. It's no good saying you've taken the pole position away from them when the race has been run," Dane told the Herald Sun.

"To be honest it was soft and those guys keep getting penalties. It's not good for the championship and it's not something that has happened with this regularity before, last year and this year.

"There always seem to be question marks. To be honest, I don't feel comfortable about it.

"I don't want to take anything away from the way that Scotty has driven this year because I think he has done an exemplary job.

"But you can't get away from the fact that Bathurst win is tainted forever and now the pole position has disappeared.

"It's not good and it's not the way the biggest race of the year in Australia should be run."

McLaughlin has set a new season record of 18 wins, and said he was the victim of sporting politics.

"I'm proud of what we've done," he said.

"I'm proud of winning Bathurst and I'm proud of winning the championship.

"Off track, it's just been political and, unfortunately for the sport, it's getting like that and it has been like that all year. We're just going to have to push on and fight them off.

"There's always conjecture and, basically, the majority of people are pretty upset about our year and they have been from the start when we started winning."