... and finally, Humpy picks Johnson

CONCORD, N.C. -- Conspiracy theorists, get ready to pounce. The rest of you, well, why do you care whether Humpy Wheeler picks anyone to win The Winston?

But that's another matter, perhaps. Why would anyone care whether Humpy Wheeler, the president and general manager of Lowe's Motor Speedway, picks a winner of the race at his track? Ah, well, let someone else worry about that.

	Lee Montgomery

Instead, let's see what Wheeler has to say. And, of course, let's go to a press conference at the track. Lowe's Motor Speedway has about 1,908 press conferences a year, it seems, most of them just another way to get Lowe's Motor Speedway in print somewhere.

But it works, especially if food is served. No food Tuesday, however. Just Humpy.

And Jerry Gappens, the track's vice president of promotion and public relations. He kicked off Tuesday's exciting event -- well, OK, we exaggerate -- by talking about ticket sales. Of course, ticket sales are up from last year, especially the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race to be run Friday night. There was no truck race last year, so of course ticket sales are up.

Good seats are still available for all races at Charlotte -- oops! Lowe's -- this May, including the Coca-Cola 600. Some folks, Gappens said, believe the race is sold out. We at NASCAR.com never said that.

But there are less than 20,000 seats for the 600, so you better call the ticket office in a hurry. And as part of trying to promote tickets sales, Gappens mentioned the "Mother-in-Law" special -- his words, not ours. Single-seat tickets for all races are half-price.

	H.A. "Humpy" Wheeler

We're guessing that if you brought your mother-in-law to the race, you'd give her the single-seat ticket. Sounds kind of mean, especially if you have a cool mother-in-law - which Gappens said he did, and he'd be happy to sit next to her. Of course, Gappens doesn't need tickets.

Gappens also mentioned NASCAR.com, and we immediately perked up. Fans, you know, get to pick how many drivers will be inverted for the last segment of the race. And where do they pick them? This fine website, of course.

What was this press conference about? Oh, yeah, The Winston. Soon, Wheeler is behind the podium, set up in front of the Smith Tower at the front entrance to the track. The Smith Tower is named after Wheeler's boss, Bruton Smith, which leads us to this question: Wonder who Bruton picked?

At any rate, Wheeler starts to talk, and the 15 or so journalists and 25 or so fans wait in eager anticipation. Well, that's an exaggeration, too, for Jimmie Johnson's PR guy is standing in the back. Hmmm.

Wheeler, knowing everyone knows who he is going to pick, fudges.

"No one knows what I'm going to say," said Wheeler, his graying hair flapping in the breeze on the otherwise chamber-of-commerce day. "Jerry, I think I'm going to change my pick."

Too late. The press releases have already been handed out.

Wheeler says The Winston is all about "mad dog" racing, which likely makes his pick a rabid one. Badoom cha.

"Mad dog racing is when you practice total, wreckless abandon in a race car," Wheeler said.

So Wheeler is looking for the most wide-open driver, it seems.

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"I sit in my office when I'm on the phone and watch the guys going into the third turn," Wheeler said.

So if you've been talking to Humpy lately and he seemed distracted, you know why.

"How you get in the third turn here makes a lot of difference how you run," Wheeler said. "That's where the race is won."

Wheeler said he's picked eight of the last 14 winners. No one is checking his facts, but he did miss last year.

"I'm real high on (Dale) Earnhardt Jr.," Wheeler said. That drew some applause from the Junior fans. They're everywhere!

"That's his cousin from Mooresville," Wheeler said.

But Wheeler isn't picking Junior, except to say he's the "darkhorse" pick. Not sure what that means, but OK.

"Of course, my pick is Jimmie Johnson," Wheeler said.

We half expected a marching band to start playing, with Johnson appearing on a float behind the tuba section. Didn't happen.

"Jimmie Johnson is my pick because he was the second-fastest car in qualifying here with The Winston setup," Wheeler said. "Jimmie Johnson, 11 straight races he's been in the top 10, he wants to win ..."

Wheeler was interrupted by a giant crane lifting a platform with a No. 48 car on it. The wind was blowing, and Wheeler looked a little unsteady.

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"I hope the wind doesn't blow too hard this way," Wheeler said. "That'd upstage the governor, wouldn't it?"

The governor of North Carolina wrecked last week, and guess which car he was driving? Hmm, a Lowe's No. 48.

"At any rate, that's your winner," Wheeler said.

Well, no, that was a car Johnson ran last year, as the rookie stripe on the rear bumper attests. Johnson won with that car at California Speedway, but apparently it's been put out to pasture by Hendrick Motorsports.

"You know, he won three races last year," Wheeler said. "He hasn't won this year. He's going to win The Winston."

Well, that's settled. Does that mean we don't have to fight traffic Saturday?

Don't think the bosses will like that.

But Wheeler's "bosses," the folks at Lowe's, probably like Wheeler a lot.

"I didn't pick him because of Lowe's," Wheeler said with a straight face. "I picked him because of Jimmie Johnson."

Uh, huh. And it's Lowe's Motor Speedway out of the goodness of Wheeler's heart.

"Remember, I picked Tony Stewart to win the Open one time," said Wheeler, not wanting to start a home-improvement riot.

	Credit: Autostock

So there you have it. Jimmie Johnson will win The Winston. Johnson was invited to attend Tuesday, but he had tire matters to attend to in Akron, Ohio. He did send along this quote:

"I know he has a good track record for picking the winner, so hopefully it will bring Team Lowe's a little luck this weekend," Johnson said. "Last year we had great success in the first two segments of The Winston, but with the fans electing to invert the field for the final run, we just ran out of laps before we could get back up to the front.

"Building off last year, coupled with our good test session at Lowe's Motor Speedway a few weeks ago, we are looking forward to big things over the next two weeks."

OK, that's enough plugs. Let's go racing.

Lee Montgomery is a staff writer for NASCAR.com. The opinions expressed are solely of the writer.