Warnock's QPR, the runaway Championship leaders, ran out 3-0 winners against a Sheffield United side now seven points adrift of safety.
Two Wayne Routledge goals either side of Alejandro Faurlin's strike mean, if results elsewhere are kind to them this week, Warnock could be celebrating the seventh promotion of his career at Barnsley in just eight days.
But Rangers' sixth win in seven games was tinged with disappointment at the plight of the club he supported as a boy and took into the top flight in 2006.
"I enjoy the way we play. We have scored some great goals and played some fabulous football," he said.
"But I don't enjoy seeing my old team in the situation they are in. You can see they are fighting for their lives. We were just better than them on the night. It's disappointing, they are a fantastic club, but you can't dwell on it. It's dog eat dog these days."
Source: PA
Source: PA