Holden veteran Craig Lowndes says his see-sawing Darwin weekend was an extremely frustrating experience.

The 40-year-old began the Darwin Triple Crown brilliantly, claiming back-to-back second places on Saturday to move within 65 points of championship leader Mark Winterbottom.

He then snared his first pole in the Top End since 2000 for Sunday’s 200km race before a damaged wheel following contact with Chas Mostert changed everything.

While Lowndes eventually limped home to finish 17th, Winterbottom secured the win to leave Darwin with a greater lead over his Red Bull Racing rival of 161 points.

“We took 40 points out of him yesterday and now we’ve lost 150,” Lowndes told AAP.

“It see-saws. The way the races are, we’re good with the shorter races and, the longer race, we failed.”

Winterbottom has claimed three Sunday race wins from his four victories this year.

With each Sunday race worth double the points of a Saturday victory, Lowndes says it’s clear where he needs to lift his game.

“He’s got good longevity on that soft tyre – there’s no doubt about that,” he said.

“They’ve obviously worked pretty hard for it so that’s something we need to improve on. We’ve got good car speed in basically most areas but the longevity is still suffering a little bit.”