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Sunday’s Ford 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway is the most important race of the season for Jimmie Johnson and Mark Martin. The same can also be said for Dale Earnhardt Jr. Earnhardt Jr. is not in the championship picture nor is he in danger of falling out of the Top 35 in points. But a strong run in Sunday’s season finale could help erase a season full of disappointments, unmet expectations, negativity, and turmoil.

“We need a good, consistent run,” Lance McGrew (Earnhardt’s crew chief) said. “It doesn’t have to be first or third. It could be that we qualified in the top 10, we ran in the top 10 all day and we finished sixth. I would like to see the race start and end the same way, just to show that we can do it. I would like to see some consistency throughout the event.”

That might be a tall order considering Homestead-Miami isn’t exactly one of Earnhardt’s best venues.

In nine NASCAR Sprint Cup Series starts at Homestead-Miami Speedway, Dale Earnhardt Jr. has led 93 laps and has recorded two top-15 finishes and four top-20s at the 1.5-mile oval. He scored his best finish — 13th — at Homestead during his rookie season in November 2000. “I haven’t had the best results at Homestead since they reconfigured the track,” Earnhardt said. “But hopefully with Lance (calling the shots) we can improve on that.”

For Earnhardt and McGrew, that could mean taking the high road….literally.

“It’s just a different type of racetrack,” McGrew said. “The progressive banking, even in qualifying, seemed like the high line was faster than the low line. It’s just different. It’s very unique as far as racetracks go.”

Earnhardt agrees.

“You really have to hunt for the best line there. The corners are real tight, and the car doesn’t want to turn and roll through the center like you would expect it to. We always seem to get tight through the center there. We’ve had some good runs here lately, and hopefully we can end the season on a positive note (at Homestead).” Ending on a positive note could be just what the doctor ordered for a team that’s had more than their share of bad luck and bad runs.

For McGrew, there is no rest for the weary. 2010 starts as soon as the checkered flag falls late Sunday night.

“I think the first thing that what you have to do is try to put your pieces in place for next year as quick as you can,” said McGrew. “Because the longer the teams work together, the guys get more familiar with each other and everybody knows their role and position. Just like with any other job, with repetition comes speed in how you do things. We need to put those guys in place as quick as we can so all of the positions are set up. Then when we have a chance to do a little bit of off-season testing — a little bit of this, a little bit of that — we can evaluate all of our people.”

Getting a head start on 2010 will be critical for both McGrew and Earnhardt. The next three months could very well determine how successful Dale Earnhardt Jr. is in 2010….and perhaps the rest of his career.

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