Iowa Speedway Win Count: Andretti 6, Penske 0

Team Penske, with its powerful driving foursome of Juan Pablo Montoya, Will Power, Helio Castroneves and Simon Pagenaud, has been considered a favorite at most Verizon IndyCar Series tracks this season. Yet Iowa Speedway is the only returning venue on the 2015 schedule where Roger Penske's cars have never won. Meanwhile, Andretti Autosport has won six of the previous eight races here, including the last five in a row. So does that make the Andretti stable of Marco Andretti, Ryan Hunter-Reay, Carlos Munoz and Justin Wilson the pre-race favorite this weekend? "They've certainly been really strong," Pagenaud said today during a media availability. "Marco has been really strong here, Hunter-Reay as well. No reason for us not to be just as competitive. We've shown a lot of strength on every track." Penske drivers have finished second on two occasions at Iowa - Ryan Briscoe in 2009 and Castroneves in 2010. Castroneves felt he "had a great shot" to win last year until a number of drivers pitted under a late caution period for fresh Firestone tires and Hunter-Reay stormed to his second Iowa victory. "Obviously, (taking on) new tires ended up paying off with only 10 laps to go (last year)," Castroneves said. "In this case, we've got to just keep doing what we're doing. ... But at this point I feel that all four of us, we're going to have a great chance to be in first place here." For his part, Andretti - winner at Iowa in 2011 - believes his team deserves to be called the Iowa favorite based on past history. "I'd like to think so," Andretti said. "The team, for whatever reason, rolls off pretty strong here. I think last year we started to struggle a little bit, but they definitely pulled the rabbit out of the hat there in the end (with Hunter-Reay winning). ... It was cool to be able to keep the streak alive. That's still the goal."

Contact:

mkitchel@indycar.com

#verizonindycarseries