Reigning NL CY Young winner Tim Lincecum is facing misdemeanor marijuana charges following a traffic stop in Washington.

From the San Jose Mercury News:

The 2008 Cy Young Award winner also was cited for driving his 2006 Mercedes 74 mph along a 60 mph stretch of Interstate 5 near Hazel Dell, Wash., police said.

After an officer detected the smell of marijuana, the two-time All-Star complied with a request to turn over 3.3 grams of the substance and a pipe from the car’s center console. Because the officer did not judge Lincecum to be impaired, he cited him and allowed him to continue.

Lincecum, 25, entered a plea of not guilty through his attorney Monday, according to court records obtained by The Associated Press. He is scheduled to appear in court Dec. 22 and faces fines of $622 for the misdemeanor charges, police said.

I’m not going to blow this story up and make it bigger deal out of it than what it really is, but there’s one thing I don’t get: He knows he’s driving around with the pot, so why go 74 mph in a 60 mph zone? If you’re going to speed around in a Mercedes with pot in his car, why not just hold a sign out the window with a big marijuana leaf drawn on it too?

This will all blow over in due time and it’s highly unlikely the Giants will punish Lincecum because of this. But hopefully he’s a little humbled by the sitaution and realizes that he’s a celebrity and has to be a little smarter than to speed around in his car with pot in the center console.