Wheeler flips over pick: Edwards gets All-Star nod

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- You can always count on H.A. "Humpy" Wheeler to put on a riveting dog-and-pony show about this time every year.

Well, at least a dog show anyway.

Wheeler, the president and general manager of Lowe's Motor Speedway, went to the dogs Wednesday to reveal his annual pick of the winner of this Saturday's NASCAR Sprint Cup All-Star Race at his track (7 p.m. ET, SPEED).

Using four breeds of dogs to illustrate his logic, it wasn't the audience that flipped out in the end when driver Carl Edwards was tabbed as Wheeler's top choice. Nope. This time, the driver whose signature move after race victories is a backflip off the door frame of his No. 99 Roush Fenway Racing Ford took a back seat to a fox terrier named Princess.

And Princess did not take a bow. She took two backflips of her own on center stage before a curious gaggle of spectators and media at One Wachovia Center in uptown Charlotte.

Wheeler said it came down to Edwards, Tony Stewart and Kyle Busch when he was trying to figure out who to pick this year. His success rate in recent years has tailed off dramatically after he first gained a large reputation by accurately selecting the correct winners of the race on his first five attempts, beginning in 1989. He made it six correct picks out of his first seven attempts when he chose Jeff Gordon in 1995 -- but in the 12 years that have followed, he has correctly picked only two more winners. He last was successful when he chose Jimmie Johnson in 2003.

Wheeler said he ultimately chose Edwards this year because "he's a racer's racer, in the mold of Dale Earnhardt Sr. and Cale Yarborough. If I hear one more driver say he had a good points day, I think I'm gonna throw up. ... Vince Lombardi would have loved Carl Edwards because he wants to win races."

It takes that kind of mentality to capture the All-Star event, which consists of a series of preliminary races and segments leading up to a final 25-lap sprint for the first-place prize of $1 million. It is, much to Wheeler's delight, a non-points event.

To get in, most of the competitors have to have been winners in the first place. All but two drivers qualify by having won at least one race this season (up until Atlanta) or during the previous season, by winning the Sprint Showdown amongst non-winners that precedes Saturday's main event, by being a former Cup champion (but still considered an active competitor by NASCAR), or by having won the All-Star extravaganza in the last 10 years. The other two entrants will consist of the second-place finisher in the Sprint Showdown and one driver voted in by the fans.

One by one on Wednesday, Wheeler introduced a breed of dog that he insisted had the same characteristics of a certain driver. Then said dog (wearing corresponding driver's colors and number) and the dog's handler actually came up onto the stage located in the atrium at the expansive Wachovia building.

The first species to trot out was a Greyhound, wearing the No. 48 favored by Johnson. "Speedy and calculating," Wheeler said.

The second was a Doberman Pinscher, wearing the No. 18 of bad boy Kyle Busch. "Energetic and fierce, but fearless more than anything," Wheeler added.

All-Star Race

SPEED will again broadcast the Sprint Showdown and All-Star Race. Tune in at 7 p.m. ET on May 17 to watch rivals race for $1 million -- and the fireworks!

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Then came Wheeler's dark horse pick -- an American pit bull terrier wearing the No. 20 of driver Tony Stewart.

"He's able to stir things up in NASCAR both on and off the track when he wants to. And I know he hasn't won yet this year, but there is one thing I know about Tony -- he can smell the big money, and this is a big-money race," Wheeler said.

Indeed, it is. But Stewart was not Wheeler's ultimate pick to win it.

"When it comes to the best in show Saturday night, I believe it's not about the size of the dog in the fight, but the size of the fight in the dog," Wheeler said. "When it comes to becoming the winner of the All-Star race, the driver must possess one definitive characteristic."

And with that, on cue, Princess trotted on stage and executed not one but two perfectly cute backflips.

Edwards then was reached via phone in Missouri, where he was given the news. Not of being Humpy's pick, for he already knew that. The real news was that until that moment, he hadn't realized the name of the dog wearing his colors.

"I think you picked me two years ago and we were right up there, running Jimmie Johnson and those guys down, and I put it into the fence," Edwards told Wheeler via a loud speaker that had been set up. "I made a mistake, trying to go for the win. I'm not going to do it again. I'm going to play it smart, and then go all-out in the last 25 laps for that million bucks.

"I believe we can do this. The only thing I don't like is, did you tell me that dog's name is Princess?"

Told that it was, Edwards laughed it off.

"If we can do a backflip like Princess after Saturday night, it will be the coolest win ever," Edwards joked.

If so, don't be surprised to find Princess in Victory Lane.

"Oh, I'm sure Humpy already has that arranged," Edwards added.