Practice 1 results

NEWTON, Iowa -- Have the tables turned heading into the Iowa Corn 300?

Team Penske, with its powerful 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 at the .894-mile oval. So does that make the Andretti quartet of Marco Andretti, Ryan Hunter-Reay, Carlos Munoz and Justin Wilson the pre-race favorite?

“They've certainly been really strong,” Pagenaud said. “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.

“The team, for whatever reason, rolls off pretty strong here," he said. "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.”

But as Andretti’s teammate was quick to point out, nothing is guaranteed.

“This is INDYCAR,” said Munoz. “You never know who is going to win. (At) Milwaukee, I wouldn't have put my dollars in on (Sebastien) Bourdais (winning the ABC Supply Wisconsin 250 on July 12). This is INDYCAR, anything can happen till the last lap. That is what is nice about the series.”