One the final weekend of the season, Dale Earnhardt Jr. will be climbing behind the wheel of his JR Motorsports No. 5 National Guard Chevrolet and pulling double duty. His ninth race in the Nationwide Series, Earnhardt Jr. will be back behind the wheel of the No. 5 Chevy for the first time since Watkins Glen in August.

In four starts in the Nationwide Series at the 1.5-mile Homestead-Miami Speedway, Junior has one top-five, two top-tens and has led a total of 125 laps. He last hit the track in a Nationwide car in 2006, where he finished seventh.

On the Cup side of the garage, Earnhardt Jr. has not fared as well at Homestead. In eight races, the driver of the No. 88 AMP Energy/National Guard Chevrolet has never finished in the top-10. Although he has led a total of 93 laps, Junior's best Cup Series finish came in his rookie year (2000) when he came home thirteenth - yet, that was before banking was added in the corners.

"The corners are real tight, and the car doesn't want to turn and roll through the center like you would expect it to," Earnhardt Jr. said of the Homestead-Miami Speedway. "I haven't driven a Hendrick car there so I'm hoping when I go there it will be different. But the corners are always tighter than they look, and I always end up getting tight through the center, and trying to roll the center (at Homestead) is tough for me. We've had some good runs, good cars. Had a good car there last year and got wrecked. I still haven't had a good finish since they reconfigured the track."

Throughout the year, Earnhardt Jr. and crew chief Tony Eury Jr. have put together solid cars that have contended for wins. Unfortunately, more often than not, it seems they lose the handling of the car as the race progresses. Despite their struggles, the cousins and their No. 88 team have one win, ten top-fives and sixteen top-tens. To add to those statistics, Junior opened the season with a victory in the non-points paying Budweiser Shootout in Daytona.

Hopefully, for his sake and all of those in Junior Nation, Earnhardt Jr. can overcome his struggles this weekend. Pulling double duty in both the Nationwide and Cup Series should help, as Earnhardt tries to give Mr. Hendrick his first win at the speedway and end the season the way he started it in Daytona - in Victory Lane.