Toyota may go after Dale Jr.

There's been speculation that Toyota could make a play in a year for the sport's biggest star: Dale Earnhardt Jr. He's in the final year of a contract with his late father's team, Dale Earnhardt Inc., and is squabbling with his stepmother, Teresa, over control. But chasing after the sport's most marketable driver would be a departure from the Toyota formula.

While it's spending big, the company has taken a methodical approach to racing, experts say. It has spent years studying the sport.

"Toyota is a company that thinks completely different," said Paul Eisenstein, publisher of thecarconnection.com, which covers the auto industry. "They are willing to take however long it takes. Toyota's attitude is that sooner or later we will get it."

Said Unger: "There hasn't been any leapfrogging. That's not the Toyota way."