2014 INDYCAR TEAM PREVIEWS / TEAM PENSKE

2013 Review: Just when it appeared long-time Penske pilot Helio Castroneves would break through and win his first series championship, mechanical woes at the Houston Grand Prix doubleheader weekend allowed Scott Dixon to pass him and edge him by 23 points in the season standings. All in all, despite just winning one race (Texas) it was a very consistent season for Helio with 6 Top 5's and 17 Top 10's. Will Power didn't have the year we've seen from him in the past, but did notch a win in the Houston doubleheader weekend and rallied to finish 4th in the final season standings. AJ Allmendinger drove in select races for the Captain, notching a best finish of 7th at Indianapolis.

2014 Changes: Roger Penske returns to 3 full-time entries as Juan Pablo Montoya returns to open wheel. The 1999 CART champion has spent the last several years driving in NASCAR. Montoya comes to an already stout lineup with Castroneves and Power. Montoya will pilot the #2 DW-Chevy with Verizon colors for half the races. Power will feature Verizon livery on his #12 DW-Chevy. Castroneves will carry different paint schemes on his traditional #3 DW-Chevy, with Hitachi and Shell being the most frequent.

2014 Forecast: It has long been thought of as Penske being the gold standard, but ever since he moved full-time to Indycar from CART in 2002, he has just ONE series championship (2006 with Sam Hornish Jr.) Yes, his cars will be in the hunt at Indy and for the season title, but they haven't been able to finish, with '13 the latest in a long line. The addition of Montoya to a already stout lineup with one of the most savvy racers at Indy (Castroneves) and perhaps the best road / street course racer in the series (Power) makes Penske a strong contender to break their title drought...as well as their 500 drought (5 years since his last win.) Will they? We shall see, Target-Ganassi will have something to say as will our next team up in the preview....Andretti Autosport

You can follow me on Twitter @BobPotosky