The annual investment Target makes to Ganassi Racing's IndyCar Series team isn't public knowledge, but its return is.

Research conducted by Joyce Julius & Associates, which measures sponsorships across all forms of media, showed that Target's name or logo was monitored for more than four hours and 31 minutes during the recently completed season.

The value? About $16 million.

Target sponsored the cars of Scott Dixon, who won the Indianapolis 500 and the season championship, and Dan Wheldon. The company drew 166 mentions on ABC, ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPN Classic.

Forty percent of the value, or $6.4 million, came from the 500. On average, the sponsors in the top 10 of the Indy Racing League realize 53.2 percent of their television exposure from the marquee event.

Motorola, the primary sponsor on Danica Patrick's car, collected $6.9 million in exposure in 2008, with nearly 70 percent of its season-ending total stemming from the Indy telecast.

The rest of the top five sponsors were 7-Eleven ($4.7 million in exposure value), GoDaddy.com ($4.7 million) and McDonald's ($4.6 million).

Primary sponsorships in the IndyCar Series range from $2.5 million to $7 million