Roger Penske has heard the question often enough: "Is it a disadvantage being the only Dodge team in Cup Series racing?"

For months now, Penske has been saying, "No," and if you believe he's just paying lip service to the relationship between his racing efforts and the carmaker, think again.

“

I personally -- if I had a choice -- I'd like to be the only one with the manufacturer because I know I'd get all the attention. I'm the prettiest girl in town, I guess, right now.

”

-- ROGER PENSKE

"I personally -- if I had a choice -- I'd like to be the only one with the manufacturer because I know I'd get all the attention," Penske said last week during a visit to the Chrysler Tech Center in Auburn Hills, Mich. "I'm the prettiest girl in town, I guess, right now."

To Dodge, Penske is looking downright beautiful, at least where driver Kurt Busch is concerned. The 2004 Cup champion has two wins in points-paying events, two poles and a victory in the Sprint All-Star Race so far this season.

Nine top-10s have carried Busch to fourth in the Cup standings through the first 15 races. Double-duty driver Brad Keselowski is the runaway leader of the Nationwide Series, and teammate Sam Hornish Jr. led a career-high 16 laps recently at Pocono.

Dodge president and CEO Ralph Gilles likes what he sees.

"I couldn't be happier -- very pleased with the results," Gilles said. "We're very excited at the potential to be in the Chase. Kurt is blowing me away, Brad is impressive, Sam has been running at the top, and I think what Brad is doing in Nationwide is outstanding. I mean, he's No. 1 there.

"He's great to watch. It's just awesome. I'm on the edge of my seat every weekend watching this stuff. It's great to see, and I think our brand is getting a lot of air time, which is fantastic."

Dodge has one of the most sophisticated wind tunnels in the world and a powertrain division that works hand-in-glove with Penske to develop optimum horsepower and reliability from the engines that power the Cup and Nationwide cars.

During last week's visit, Dodge was testing the new R6P8 Nationwide engine on its most powerful dynamometer, using a simulation of Charlotte Motor Speedway based on actual driver data from Penske.

What Penske likes is that the data is proprietary and free-flowing between the manufacturer and the team. On the engine side, the race team and the carmaker collaborate on the design.

"We design the head and the block, and all that's done in conjunction with Dodge and the engineering people," Penske said. "We actually make the designs, and we take them to NASCAR for approval, so they're very key on the basic engine components -- pistons, rods, things like that. We'll continue to re-engineer to get maximum power."

For aerodynamic data, the Dodge wind tunnel is indispensible.

"When you look at the wind tunnel capability we have here, it's been a terrific asset for us, because, typically, there aren't many tunnels where you can have full scale," Penske said. "So we run in here in full scale, and it's repeatable.

"It's our data, which is so important. To me, all the dynamics that we're able to generate from here -- the design, and obviously the financial support is important, too -- so you get technology, you get pieces, and you get the financial support. So all together, I think we're in a great spot."

Busch feels the same way, but he'd like to see his teammates elevate the level of their performances on the Cup side to make the shared data between the teams more meaningful.

"All [Dodge's] eggs are in one basket with us at Penske Racing," Busch said. "I feel like sometimes, yeah, I'm out on an island on my own. If I could get my teammates up to speed, and to have a little bit more of a pattern going through the whole program, then, yeah, it would feel like a power team.

"We wouldn't need other Dodge teams out there. We're close -- we're very close. I'm proud to carry the banner right now."