Hamlin finds reality more rewarding than video game

~ The rookie won the Pocono 500 on Sunday.

LONG POND, Pa. -- Rookie Denny Hamlin never turned a lap at Pocono Raceway before this weekend.

Well, not in reality, anyway.

So for his first career Nextel Cup win, the 25-year-old owes some credit to the makers of his video game.

"They got every tree on the site, everything's mapped out perfect," Hamlin said Sunday after winning the Pocono 500. "Visually, I know where my letoff points are."

There was nothing virtual about the realities of this win, though: First, a blown tire sent Hamlin spinning. Then NASCAR's elite drivers pushed him hard down the stretch.

But he never lost his poise, showing Tony Stewart, his champion teammate, that he might have some company in the points race.

"I think he's on the verge of something big down the road," Stewart said.

Hamlin overcame the early blown rubber, surged late and held on to solidify his spot as NASCAR's top rookie.

"I honestly didn't think it would be this easy," the 25-year-old Hamlin said.

Hamlin's introduction to the 2 1/2-mile triangle -- which he said was like driving on salt flats -- came Friday. But he had logged enough virtual hours to get comfortable, playing video games for three hours a day to familiarize himself with the comparatively flat Pocono track.

"It helps with track awareness," he said.

Hamlin held off the challengers -- including Stewart -- on the final five tenuous laps after the caution came out late following Jeff Gordon's harrowing accident.

Nothing slowed down Hamlin in his No. 11 Joe Gibbs Chevrolet -- not even his tire problems -- winning a race in his 21st career start and jumping from 11th to ninth in the points standings.