NASCAR neophyte knew who looked like a winner

Saturday, Nov. 17, 2007 | 7:18 a.m.

Theresa Randall thinks NASCAR driver Jimmie Johnson has a cute butt.

And that could be worth $1 million to the 49-year-old insurance claims auditor from Las Vegas.

"I didn't know anything about NASCAR racers, so I kind of looked at their butts and decided that his was the cutest and that's why I picked him," says Randall, who wanted to follow a driver when she began watching races five years ago with her future husband, Ron.

She concluded that Johnson had the best rear end in the business - and not the one on his No. 48 Lowe's-sponsored Chevrolet. Her decision to throw her support behind Johnson is about to pay big dividends.

She'll become a millionaire if Johnson wins the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series crown at Sunday's final race at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

With a win last weekend in Phoenix, Johnson holds an 86-point lead over Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jeff Gordon and needs to finish only 18th or better to win the title and a $6.7 million bonus.

That would make Randall the winner of Sprint/Nextel's "SprintSpeed Million" contest. In September, Randall was one of 12 finalists chosen at random for a chance to win if their driver won the "Chase for the Nextel Cup."

"I'm still in shock. I'm still trying to soak it all in. It's just too amazing," Randall says. "I don't know what I'm going to do" if Johnson wins Sunday.

But she knows exactly what she'll do with the money.

"The first thing I'm going to do is donate to Jimmie Johnson's (charitable) foundation, because that's really the only way I could possibly thank him," she says. "Then I'm going to pay off our mortgage and then we're going to have a really nice Christmas for our family and then I'm going to put the rest away for retirement."

Randall was trying to go about her routine at work this week before she left Friday for the race in Florida. She says she won't quit her job, which she enjoys, if she wins.

It's been a whirlwind autumn for Randall. As a finalist, she won a trip to the race at Talladega Superspeedway, where she got VIP treatment and a $10,000 check - presented by Johnson.

"You know, I entered a silly contest with the thought that, 'Hey, it would be really cool to go to a race' - because that was the finalists' prize - and then meet Jimmie Johnson," she says. "I never even thought about the chance of winning a million dollars."