Wheeler likes Johnson to take home All-Star million

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- H.A. "Humpy" Wheeler hardly needs assistance when it comes to entertaining the media.

So it should come as no surprise that while he had a "world-renowned mental illusionist" on hand in Lawrence Gregory at a news conference Tuesday at Bobcats Arena, Wheeler didn't really rely on Gregory for any help in making his annual predictions for NASCAR's upcoming Nextel All-Star Challenge at Lowe's Motor Speedway.

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Wheeler's pick to win this Saturday night's All-Star Challenge came as no surprise, either. He says it will be Jimmie Johnson, who has driven his No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports car to victory in four of the first 11 Nextel Cups points races this season.

"This race is Jimmie Johnson's to lose," Wheeler proclaimed.

If Johnson can avoid losing it and fulfill Wheeler's prognostication in the process, he will join Dale Earnhardt and Jeff Gordon as the only three-time winners of NASCAR's annual All-Star event, having also won it last year and in 2003. He also would take home the top prize of $1 million.

Wheeler said he made his choice after recently watching Johnson and 52 other teams run through two days -- and evenings -- of practices at the LMS track he runs as its general manager and president. Wheeler added that he avoided comparing overall lap times "because people were playing too many games," concentrating instead on how cars would get off the Turn 2 corner and head down the backstretch into Turn 3.

"The guy was absolutely blazing in the practices, particularly down the straightaway," Wheeler said. "He has got some horsepower, and I think these Hendrick cars -- as everybody knows because they're hotter than a firecracker this year -- have just a teeny, teeny bit extra torque coming out of the corners. I say that because I've talked to a lot of guys who have been running behind them in the corners. And that's the best way to find out about a racecar -- by talking to the guys who are following it.

"Jimmie Johnson also is a master -- an absolute master -- at driving a loose racecar. That comes, really, from his early beginnings as an off-road racer out in the West, where you have to drive with the rear end. And nobody can win the All-Star race without runnin' loose. You just can't do it." (Continued)