The Team 18 star will reach a significant career milestone in Perth next week when he hits the 600-race mark.
He will become just the third driver to make it to 600 races along with Craig Lowndes and Garth Tander.
However the upcoming milestone hasn't triggered any thoughts of retirement for the 41-year-old, who says he's more focussed on winning a second Supercars crown to go alongside his 2015 title than he is about hanging up his helmet.
Much of that motivation comes from a desire to succeed with team owner Charlie Schwerkolt, who lured Winterbottom away from his long-time home Tickford Racing at the end of 2018.
"I’ve won a championship, I’ve won Bathurst, I’ve done what I wanted to achieve in the sport – but I joined Charlie and it’s like, he wants a championship and my championship means nothing to him," Winterbottom told Motorsport.com.
"I’m just so hungry to get results, I’m not even focused on an end date, just focused on getting this team and car up the front and this is our best opportunity.
"I don’t just race to make up the numbers and get paid because, to be fair, once you’re in the sport – I hope this doesn’t sound arrogant – but there’s so many opportunities. It’s a great networking sport and you’re not going to be desperate for job. It’s not one of those situations where you’re just doing it because you have to, you do it because you want to.
"By wanting to, it’s to win races. That’s the only reason I do it and it’s the only reason why most people do it.
"Charlie employs me because he thinks I can win races, so that’s the only reason I do it. There’s no end date, but I’d prefer to win a championship and leave than be going shit and leave, so that’s kind of what I’m trying to do – win a championship and then worry about [retirement] then."
Winterbottom is yet to take a podium finish since joining Team 18, his last top three coming in Perth back in 2018.
However he is confident the squad's "time is coming" amid general excitement for the new Gen3 era in Supercars.
“I actually genuinely love [the Gen3 cars] and I think it has really refreshed my opinion of the sport a bit," he added.
"I think the other cars were too perfect in ways that if they were good, you were good; if they were bad, you were bad.
"And then it was about the power of development really. If a car was bad, you would go downstairs and make some bits and make it better. Where now it’s kind of, you pick up the catalogue and put the numbers together and that’s how it is.
"I think they’re great, they’re fun to drive. They’re not easy, that’s for sure, they’re very hard to drive... which is funny because a lot of the guys that are winning are the ones that don’t love it, which I find strange because you love anything that wins. It can handle like crap but if you’re winning you love it.
"I think it’s good, I think the cars are fun to drive.
“Our time will come, I think we’re definitely on the way up. [The Australian] Grand Prix could have been a really good weekend if things fell our way, which it didn’t, but it could have been a lot better weekend so good things to come hopefully and I can be part of it."
