~ He finished second in Saturday's race near his hometown and took over the circuit's rookie lead.

RICHMOND, Va. -- Denny Hamlin's first big weekend as a NASCAR star in the area where he grew up couldn't have started more poorly. It couldn't have ended much better.

Three days after horseplay following a test session at Lowe's Motor Speedway left him with a gash in his hand that required 19 stitches, he dueled with buddy Dale Earnhardt Jr. late and finished a career-best second at Richmond.

The 25-year-old Hamlin passed Kevin Harvick for the lead with 70 laps to go before Earnhardt got by him. Hamlin pulled alongside Earnhardt several times in the seven-lap dash to the finish, but didn't have enough to regain the advantage.

If he had, he might not have been able to tell, anyway.

"I tell you what, when I took the lead from the 29, I literally felt my heartbeat in my foot shaking on the gas pedal," Hamlin said. "I could just feel myself lifting off the gas pedal down the straightaway because my foot was shaking so hard."

The finish challenged fans' loyalties at Richmond International Raceway, pitting possibly the next championship contender from the racing-rich state against the most popular driver in the series. Even the drivers noticed the crowd's excitement.

"I'm sure it was divided down the middle and they would have been happy either way because Denny sure has earned his position in the sport," Earnhardt said.

Hamlin, who earned his ride with Joe Gibbs Racing during a monthlong test on the Nextel Cup circuit late last season, is still learning about his newfound stardom.

"I saw all the cheers when me and Dale Jr. were side by side there with a few laps to go," he said. "I'm sure most of those cheers were for him, but all I could do was imagine in my mind they were for me and try that much harder."

The race capped a weekend that would have highlighted how quickly his fame has grown in the Richmond area if not for the injury, which occurred when he cut his hand while racing around the team hauler in a competition with team members at Charlotte, N.C.

Hamlin showed everyone in the series that he's a driver who understands the rules of racing and clean driving. Each time he pulled alongside Earnhardt in the closing laps, he had the opportunity to nudge him out of the way and take a victory he couldn't otherwise have achieved.

And each time, he chose to race clean with the inferior car.

"He asked me even in Victory Lane, 'Man, why didn't you lay into me?'" Hamlin said of Earnhardt. "I said, 'Man, if I had the chance, I would have.' It was definitely going to be a whole lot more physical had I had a little bit better car."

As a rookie, Hamlin knows other drivers are still trying to gauge his style.

"It's just one of those things where it will pay off in the long run to race those guys clean," he said. "Hopefully they do it to me in the same situation later."

There could be plenty of other chances.

"He's going to win a lot of races and be real successful," Earnhardt said.