by Lee Spencer

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Penske has always been an innovator. General Motors' Saturn division has followed a similar path. Marketed toward a more youthful market since its debut in 1990, Saturn was GM's answer to the more compact, fuel-efficient imports.

Saturn's original slogan? A different kind of company.

And Penske, who owns championship IndyCar teams as well as entries in both NASCAR and Grand-Am, will be a different kind of owner once the Saturn deal is completed later this summer.

On Sunday morning, Penske, 72, drove his Smart car (one of the 40 brands Penske Automotive Group distributes) to the airport before catching his jet to Pocono Raceway to watch his NASCAR teams. That came after a night of IndyCar Series racing at Texas Motor Speedway on Saturday night, where his driver Helio Castroneves outran teammate Ryan Briscoe for his second win of the season.

Despite the looming deal, however, the charming and savvy mogul was quick to dispel rumors of a Penske Racing Saturn appearing at a track any time soon.

"The Aura is right off the Malibu platform," Penske said about the make that could compete in stock car racing. "Don't get me in trouble telling them that I'm running an Aura in NASCAR."

Penske's passion for business is only surpassed by his zeal for racing. Partnering racing with the automotive business is a winning combination for Penske.

"There would be nothing that I do in my life that I don't associate with racing," Penske said. "Racing has been a common thread through our business and if there's a way to take racing and create and deliver some value to the Saturn customer and to the brand then we might have to do that.

"Saturn has been around for 20 years — it's an iconic brand and the value of this customer base of three-and-a-half million, to me that's the assets there. The cars are cars, you can rebuild cars, but it's that customer base and more important than that you've got 350 rooftops with dealers with 200 operators and it would take you 20 years to get us an operation plus a dealer group like that. I think we've got tremendous assets there. The dealers, I know many of them myself from being in the business as long as I have, we've got some fabulous people and they are so excited."

The Captain is confident he can "steer the ship here so there's a value return" for both the dealers and PAG. In the last 12 months, Saturn's sales dropped 57.7 percent.

Penske isn't denying that racing could be a part of Saturn's marketing in the future. But with a three-year commitment to Dodge, Penske is quick not to cloud the issue.

"I don't want anybody to get confused — we have a long term contract with Dodge in NASCAR," Penske said. "We're committed to that and we're not going to waiver off that at all as long as Dodge wants us.

"The Saturn opportunity is now to develop product, to take this dealers into a team where we can give them the returns they want on their investment."

Would he ever consider taking the helm of General Motors?

"I'm too old and have too many things to do," Penske said. "Not even a chance."