Is Chevy whipping Honda on HP or aero kits, or both?

Roger Penske thinks Chevy might be beating Honda both in HP and aerodynamics

The so-called Penske unfair advantage harkens to the days of Mark Donohue and his domination of the early Trans-Am years through his win for Roger Penske at the 1972 Indianapolis 500.

Team Penske has maintained a lead over its competitors through the years and it makes the Captain a happy man – and a successful race-team owner and businessman.

On Thursday, Penske was at the Port Authority on the Detroit River with his Verizon IndyCar Series drivers, Will Power, Helio Castroneves, Simon Pagenaud and Juan Pablo Montoya, Sunday's Indy 500 winner.

He was meeting with sponsors, media and state and city officials in advance of today's kick-off of the 2015 Chevrolet Detroit Belle Isle Grand Prix and the Chevy Dual in Detroit IndyCar doubleheader.

And he was pleased with Team Penske's performance this season and Chevrolet, his engine manufacturer.

In the first six races of 2015, Team Penske has won three races. Montoya won two and Power one. Chevy has won five of the six races, with Honda, the second manufacturer to the series, winning one race.

Chevy's early-season domination has the IndyCar paddock talking about the new aero-kit package the series is using on street and road courses and ovals.

Chevy appears to have a big advantage over Honda entering Detroit.

Penske understands the situation, but still embraces his and Chevy's lead.

"I think Honda has some great drivers, and I think they are always a chance," said Penske, winner of a record 16 Indy 500s and whose team swept Belle Isle last year. "I think the key thing – there's a lot of speculation: Is it the engine HP or the aero kits (working to Chevy's advantage)?"

Penske agreed that perhaps it was time for IndyCar to look at the lead Chevy has.

"I think the series has the ability at some point to take the cars and put them in a wind tunnel and the engines and put them on a dyno," Penske said. "Let's find out where we are. That's going to be the true test, and if there is going to be an equalization based on the rules package, they'll have to do it.

"We knew this when we came into the series. If you have two different manufactures working on aero and engine package there could be a difference.

"I think right now, based on the results, I can't say it is all engine or all aero. I don't know what the plans are … the series, I think they have the ability to take a look at performance and data that's available.

"I think the manufacturers should go and look at the data and not hide it so it's a transparent process and each of us can get on with racing." Detroit Free Press