The long-term Brad Jones Racing driver is scratching his head for reasons as to why his season suddenly hit a brick wall after a strong start.

The 34-year-old had six consecutive top eight results at the start of the year, from the Sunday race at Adelaide to the Symmons Plains opener more than a month later.

He was sitting fifth in the championship and only behind Jamie Whincup as the second best Holden driver when the series was being dominated by Ford Mustangs.

But since then the 34-year-old has had just one top-10 finish. In the last 13 races, he has dropped to 15th overall and the eighth-placed Commodore driver.

"We haven't had great speed of late and we don't really know why. The car isn't responding to what we are throwing at it and it's been pretty frustrating," Slade said.

"Since Nick (teammate Nick Percat) came along, it's been good as we can share data and stuff to find a good setup - we are both similar as to what want from the car.

"But that hasn't been working either and we're at a bit of a loss to explain it."

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Slade has enjoyed good success with BJR since joining for the 2016 season - he has won two races and finished no worse than 11th in the championship.

He wound up 11th last year, only 41 points behind teammate Percat, but the two are currently separated by 436 points, with Percat well inside the top 10 in eighth.

A big result at Bathurst would not only turn Slade's year around, but it is desperately needed given he is out of contract at the end of the season.

"You hope that you roll out of the truck with a setup that's pretty close to the money because that always makes the week a bit easier as opposed to having to chase it," Slade said.

"It would be great to come away with a really solid result to ease the pain of the season so far.

"It's a long race up there, and, if you stay in touch, anything can happen in that last hour. We normally go alright there so I'm hoping this year will be no different.

"Having Ash (co-driver Ash Walsh) in the car again is good. We've driven together a lot now that's a big plus for us, it's a big thing to be familiar with each other's style and how we work - it lets you just get on with racing."

Despite Slade being a popular team member at BJR and one of the series' most consistent performers, neither Slade nor BJR management are making any comments about his future.

With the Supercar driver silly season normally kicking off at Bathurst, news of who will drive the No. 14 BJR racer shouldn't be too far away and a win at Bathurst won't do his chances any harm.