Hans Stuck, who is the head of Volkswagen’s motorsports program, met with NASCAR higher ups at Homestead-Miami Speedway Saturday to potentially discuss VW entering a NASCAR series. VW “expressed interest in entering a racing series, but indicated they are more inclined to pick a series that showcases technology, according to a person who attended the meeting but also requested anonymity,” reported the Associated Press.

Stuck did say that NASCAR is not on VW’s short term radar because they will not have a manufacturing plant in the United States until 2012, in which NASCAR mandates that a competitor have a plant within the US to compete. The plant, which is being built in Tennessee, will produce mid-size sedans, coinciding with new NASCAR rules mandating fuel-injection by 2011. This is important because A) a new VW sedan would be a perfect fit and B) fuel-injection would make it easier for VW to compete at a higher level, which would also showcase technology.

Like Toyota, which entered the series in 2002, VW could grab a market of the US which is dominated by domestic brands i.e. Chevy and Ford. Though VW may not have short term plans for NASCAR, the long term could yield Jetta sedans bumpin’ and rubbin’ in North America’s premier motorsport. Just the fact that they are talking makes us more than excited.

(Source: TheCarLounge via NASCAR)