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CUP: Penske To VW? Not Next Year
Volkswagen is involved in a number of racing series...
Tom Jensen  |  Posted September 30, 2010   Charlotte, NC
Team owner Roger Penske is at peace with his organization's switch to Ford. (Photo: LAT Photographic)
Penske Racing will not be switching from Dodges to Volkswagens in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series next year, nor will the German automaker be fielding cars in America’s premier stock-car series in 2011.

Beyond that, though, VW could make a play to race stock cars. The operant word there being “could,” as the automaker has not petitioned NASCAR to go racing next year.

Volkswagen is the midst of completing a merger that will put German automakers VW, Porsche and Audi brands under one ownership structure, along with Skoda, Bentley and other European brands.

Porsche new CEO Matthias Müller said during this week’s Paris Auto Show that Volkswagen, which is merging with Porsche, is “seriously considering,” joining Toyota as the only automakers based outside the United States to compete in NASCAR. A subsequent report on MotorTrend.com said, “One of the owners that Volkswagen is considering team up with is Roger Penske, who is currently associated with Dodge and has a history of success in the stock car series.”

That report appears to be premature.

Sources at Penske Racing told SPEED.com that it is the team’s “full intent” to continue fielding Dodges next year in the NASCAR Sprint Cup and NASCAR Nationwide Series.

Furthermore, sources at NASCAR said that while Volkswagen officials intermittently have expressed a casual “interest in NASCAR,” the German automaker has not taken any of the steps necessary to be granted approval to race in NASCAR.

In order to be approved to compete, VW or any other automaker would have to formally submit its race car and engine package to NASCAR. That has not happened, NASCAR officials told SPEED.com Thursday. And even if VW wanted to race in NASCAR, the earliest a car could be approved would be for the 2012 season.

On top of that, And sources familiar with the German automakers said that while VW, Porsche and Audi all have ambitious motorsports agendas in the United States, the pending merger has dramatically slowed new initiatives, at least temporarily.

Tom Jensen is the Editor in Chief of SPEED.com, Senior NASCAR Editor at RACER and a contributing Editor for TruckSeries.com. You can follow him online at twitter.com/tomjensen100 and e-mail him at Jensen is the author of “Cheating: The Bad Things Good NASCAR Nextel Cup Racers Do In Pursuit of Speed,” and has appeared on numerous television and radio shows. Jensen is the past President of the National Motorsports Press Association and an NMPA Writer of the Year.

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