DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- If Denny Hamlin's learned anything in four years in the Cup Series, it might be the predatory nature -- the law of the jungle -- that rules: Don't show weakness or you'll get eaten alive.

And so when Hamlin walked into Media Day on Feb. 4, he had no hitch in his stride, no evidence of the torn left anterior cruciate knee ligament he'd suffered playing pickup basketball on Jan. 22.

Hamlin has repeatedly tested his knee, in both a systematic and impromptu manner. On the opening day of practice for the Budweiser Shootout, Hamlin was part of a grinding six-car wreck in Turn 1. Nothing compromised his knee there, but make no mistake, he's aware of it.

And with everything he's said about the knee not compromising his ability to drive -- primarily in manipulating the clutch and brake pedals -- he proved it Saturday night in the Shootout, where he finished fifth behind defending champion Kevin Harvick and Kasey Kahne.

"No, nothing at all [on Thursday]," Hamlin said, wearing the smile he often displays. "I tested it right before this race started. I pressed down on the brake just as hard as I could and had some pit stops and was able to take off with the clutch and everything was smooth."

But as much as his stride belies any discomfort he's feeling, Hamlin had to tell the truth.

"It's good," Hamlin said. "But it's better in the car than it is now. But really, it's just not an issue at all. I thought that it would be, but not here, definitely."

Hamlin's last comment did mean the questions would arise again after Sunday's Daytona 500, when the series heads to Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Calif., a high-speed two-mile oval where a lot more brake pressure is needed.

"By then I think the pain will be much, much less than it is at the current time," Hamlin said. "Myself, there's no better place than I can be [than] at Daytona as far as the leg is concerned. Talking to the doctors and everything like that, by the time I get to California I won't have a limp, I'll walk normal and everything will be fine."

Hamlin has a custom-fitted brace.

"It's going to help a ton with the rehab," Hamlin said. "But I don't wear one in the car because the space is too small. It helps it every day to wear one but really sitting in the car I'm more comfortable than I am anywhere. It's a good thing that it's a leg thing and maybe not an arm thing. It would've been a bigger issue if that was the case."

Despite how well he appears to get around, Hamlin stated the obvious.

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"It bothers me more to get to the car than it does actually in it," Hamlin said. "It's better in the car than it is out. Really, I didn't even think about it until I went to get out of the car and I remembered, 'Hey, I've got to be a little cautious getting out.'"

As Hamlin conducted his interviews on Daytona's pit road, team owner Joe Gibbs, who has plenty of experience with knee injuries in his role as Hall of Fame coach of the NFL's Washington Redskins, reiterated his lack of concern for Hamlin's injury which he doesn't plan to have surgery on, if necessary, until after the season.

"With this injury it's possible they let pitchers go all the way through the [baseball] season before they've operated on it," Gibbs said of his consultations with various doctors. "Both sides of his knee are fine, the posterior cruciate is fine -- it's just the back torn ACL. So I think we'll be fine and we actually can start strengthening it a little bit, now, I think, too."

Gibbs said Hamlin's been neither frustrated, nor stubborn about his rehabilitation path.

And right after the Shootout, Hamlin knew there was only one thing for him to do, and that was return home for a few days of rest and relaxation before he had to return to Daytona when practice for the Gatorade Duel 150s resumes on Wednesday.

"I'm going back to Charlotte and try to relax a little bit," Hamlin said Saturday night. "You kind of get cabin fever in these motor homes for the entire Speedweeks so I'm going to head back to Charlotte."

The biggest challenge, as well for Hamlin will be to find a replacement for his beloved hoops.

"For me, basically I've got to figure out a different way to have cardio [exercise]," Hamlin said. "What bothers me the most about it is I'm not able to do the things I love to do. Everyone has a hobby outside of racing and if you told them they couldn't do that for a year-and-a-half it would bother them. And for me, it's [basketball] -- just something that I took up and I love to do.

"For me, now it's just going to be about finding a way to get my heart rate up in a different way."

Hamlin said a racer's best weapon, mental toughness, will be his ally.

"Whether it's been cutting my hand in my rookie season or something like that, all I can remember is not feeling any pain once I'm in the race car," Hamlin said. "Ultimately, the hand hurt worse inside a race car. You've got to be mentally tough and for me I feel like I'm just so focused inside the race car it didn't matter if I had a broken leg -- I wouldn't feel anything."

If Hamlin were on his feet for a long period, it might be an issue, but again, he stressed that's not the case in the car.

"It's about two hours that I have on it when it really starts getting unstable," Hamlin said. "I had a moment when I went to the X Games [in Aspen, Colo.] where it gave out and popped twice and I fell down just standing up because I had been on my feet too long. That's the thing you've got to worry about.

"At that time I didn't have a brace, but we've got a custom made brace now that I'm going to wear pretty much every day and that I have to wear every day just to help support it because ultimately the more you stand on it the weaker it does get."