IndyCar insider reveals Honda's core elements responsible for 7-0 sweep over Chevrolet in 2025

The Honda-powered cars have secured all the wins in the first seven races of the 2025 IndyCar season. IndyCar insider and motorsport reporter Marshall Pruett was questioned about Honda’s secret sauce as he looked back on the weekend in IndyCar following the Detroit GP.

Chevrolet managed to win the 2025 Manufacturers Cup, securing the championship for the third consecutive year. Honda, on the other hand, dominated the late 2010s with four consecutive manufacturer championships from 2018-2021.

However, as the Japanese manufacturer was at a deficit to Chevrolet the last few years, the Honda Racing Corporation made major changes and improvements to the power unit for the 2025 IndyCar season. And the result has been anything but magnificent.

Alex Palou has managed five wins out of seven in the #10 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda (which includes the Indy 500 win), whereas Kyle Kirkwood won the remaining two races in the #27 Andretti Global Honda.

Marshall Pruett, in the latest episode of the Marshall Pruett podcast (MP 1610), answered the fans' questions. A fan asked Pruett what made Honda such a formidable force in the 2025 season, to which he replied:

“The areas that they told me they really made progress in, reliability. There was a big area last year where there were a number of problemos and set them back quite a bit.” (18:30 onwards)

The Honda cars also faced issues at the power tracks in 2024, where Chevrolet had the outright better engine. Although Honda had a better power delivery, Chevrolet had the better top end. However, Marshall Pruett suggested that HRC had also looked into the same, as he added:

“Other areas which is just obvious, but they've been pushed internally like mad to find the power deficit. Always been pretty good on torque, but find the power deficit. Find the fuel mileage improvements needed. Indy 500 being a place where obviously they had a huge year-to-year gain. So it's finding the obvious stuff.”

Josef Newgarden faced a fuel system error in the Team Penske Chevrolet at the Indy 500, and Robert Shwartzman in the Prema Chevrolet has also faced issues with the power unit at Thermal Club.

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Marshall Pruett hopeful of a Chevrolet-powered team to win an IndyCar race amid Honda’s dominance

Marshall Pruett, on his podcast, detailed how it's been a shocker for him that neither Team Penske nor Arrow McLaren has been able to win a single race in the 2025 season. Pruett suggested that he'd like to see Chevrolet cars get in the game. He said:

“I would love to see Chevy get in the game here with some wins. What I'm looking for at all times is compelling racing.” (22:21 onwards)

“I feel like it'd be great for a non-Ganassi, non-Andretti team to get in the game with a win among Honda Camp. And it'd be great for anybody in the Team Chevy Camp to get in with some wins and bring some more spice,” he added.

The closest that a Chevy driver came to winning this year was when Christian Lundgaard finished P2 at the Alabama GP.