Motorsports

Speed reading

By BRANT JAMES
Published June 17, 2006

Tony Stewart, sounding very much like a crotchety old man at 35, doesn't want to hear any more about how those newfangled video games are helping these darned kids like Denny Hamlin win Nextel Cup races.

Said Stewart, Hamlin's Joe Gibbs Racing teammate, after finishing third at Pocono: "Let's put an end to this right now. They're playing video games because they're 18-20 years old, just like we did when we were 18-20 years old. It gives you the physical layout (of the track). Are you going to learn a lot? Probably not. These guys are not here because they're dummies, and trust me, a video game did not make them an instant genius on Pocono. The fact that they're rookies in good cars are why they're doing well at Pocono."

Said 25-year-old Hamlin: "You don't learn anything set-up wise, obviously. But there is a lot of track awareness. When you go to a race track you've never been to before, you've got to find (brake) let-off points - especially on a flat race track like this. ... With the video games, they've got every tree and everything mapped out perfect. So visually, I know where my let-off points are. I still have to fine-tune that at the race track quite a bit, but still it helps with track awareness and I feel like it helped me."

[Last modified June 17, 2006, 00:50:09]