Jimmie Johnson looks younger than his 26 years, but drives like a cagey veteran with graying hair.

He has men like Bill Elliott, Rusty Wallace and even his team owner, Jeff Gordon, pressing the gas pedals harder trying to keep up. You think that's a fabrication? It's not. A look at the stat sheets this season show Johnson's name at the top.

Most laps led: Johnson's 4,140. Most miles led: Johnson's 5,255.544. Most wins: Johnson's two match the season highs of Sterling Marlin, Matt Kenseth and Tony Stewart. Chevrolet has three wins in 2002, and Johnson has two of them.

Johnson could very well be the winningest driver on tour. He was leading in Richmond, Va., and appeared to have the car to beat, but got into a battle with Jimmy Spencer and wound up spinning out of contention. In Charlotte, in the Coca Cola 600, he was simply overwhelming the competition. He won the pole there and led 263 of the 400 laps but overshot his pit on the final stop, costing him the victory.

Johnson said he has learned from those incidents.

"Oh, yeah," he said. "I've learned never race Jimmy Spencer in the closing laps and to take your time and do your job right in the pits. I looked like a baby coming into the pits [at Dover], but I didn't overshoot my pits. I didn't make a mistake."

Johnson said he pressured himself to not make mistakes last weekend. But pressure isn't new to the rookie. He remembers when he was getting into racing, driving whatever he could - everything from trucks to stock cars. His family didn't have the money to put him in a race car. He got rides because his dad knew some people.

"Once I got those rides, I had to make the most of them," said Johnson. "There was a lot of pressure on me then, so I've been used to it. I felt a lot of pressure coming in to this season that I tried to hide. I was joining the Hendrick team [which has won five of the past seven Winston Cup championships]. And because Jeff was coming off the Winston Cup title, everyone knew the team was good.

"But I wouldn't say I thrive on pressure. Pressure makes you lose sleep. You don't eat. It makes you cranky. I've just found a way to deal with it."

Gordon, who recommended Johnson to Hendrick after the El Cajon, Calif., driver beat him in a Busch Series race, said: "Jimmie is just a talent and a smart driver. We're really thrilled to have him, and his team is doing a great job. I told Jimmie that we would put him in top-notch equipment, and he's really making it work by getting into victory lane."

Hendrick, who took Gordon's advice, said at the beginning of the year, before the rookie started this amazing season, that he had no choice but to sign Johnson "because he appears to be every bit as talented" as Gordon.

So what happens when you put the two of them together?

"Jimmie and his team make the stuff we've developed at Hendrick Motorsports better," said Gordon before last weekend's race at Dover International Speedway, where Johnson was the runaway winner.

Johnson said evenings spent with Gordon eating steaks with Hendrick expands his knowledge as they talk over the cars and the race tracks.

"Jeff says I help him, but he has no idea how much I've learned from him," said Johnson. "I've tried to impress that on him, but he doesn't want the credit. But like [Saturday night], Jeff and I talked about the rhythm of the race and how to run the top groove [at Dover]. So, during the race, I used the top groove to save my tires."

In fact, Johnson used every groove at Dover. He laughed at that. He wasn't showing off.

"When you run the bottom groove all the time, the car can get tight," he said. "Then if you run the top, you tend to wear the right rear tire. I was trying to keep it balanced, and I learned that if you can run the bottom, you can run anywhere on the race track."

Those are important details a rookie needs to succeed, and with Gordon as a tutor, Johnson is learning fast.

This weekend, he goes into the Pocono 500 just 136 points behind leader Sterling Marlin. That in itself is historic. No rookie has ever been second in points. Certainly none has won a Winston Cup championship.

Johnson looks bemused by the prospect. He's doing well, he said, but that doesn't mean it will continue unabated.

"Six months ago, I was shaking a little, wondering what this season was going to hold for me," he said. "After Las Vegas [the first of nine top 10 finishes this season], this little dream began. Right now, it's clicking. I wish we could bottle it up and keep it 100 years. But we all know the lows are going to come - whether it's six weeks from now or six years from now. We know it's out there."

And yet, in almost the next breath, he offers a different perspective.

"We've been close to winning four races in a row," he said. "If you put yourself in position, you can have those wins. As for the championship, we have a shot at it. Is it realistic? I don't think it's very probable for a rookie to do that, but we're going to keep trying. Crazy things happen, and if we're at the head table in New York, that would be unreal."

Pocono 500 lineup

At Long Pond, Pa. Lap length: 2.5 miles (Based on owners points; race tomorrow) (car number in parentheses) 1. (40) Sterling Marlin, Dodge.

2. (48) Jimmie Johnson, Chevrolet.

3. (24) Jeff Gordon, Chevrolet.

4. (17) Matt Kenseth, Ford.

5. (2) Rusty Wallace, Ford.

6. (6) Mark Martin, Ford.

7. (20) Tony Stewart, Pontiac.

8. (97) Kurt Busch, Ford.

9. (9) Bill Elliott, Dodge.

10. (28) Ricky Rudd, Ford.

11. (99) Jeff Burton, Ford.

12. (32) Ricky Craven, Ford.

13. (88) Dale Jarrett, Ford.

14. (8) Dale Earnhardt Jr, Chevrolet.

15. (12) Ryan Newman, Ford.

16. (5) Terry Labonte, Chevrolet.

17. (15) Michael Waltrip, Chevrolet.

18. (41) Jimmy Spencer, Dodge.

19. (18) Bobby Labonte, Pontiac.

20. (45) Kyle Petty, Dodge.

21. (77) Dave Blaney, Ford.

22. (22) Ward Burton, Dodge.

23. (30) Jeff Green, Chevrolet.

24. (19) Jeremy Mayfield, Dodge.

25. (21) Elliott Sadler, Ford.

26. (55) Bobby Hamilton, Chevrolet.

27. (10) Johnny Benson, Pontiac.

28. (31) Robby Gordon, Chevrolet.

29. (4) Mike Skinner, Chevrolet.

30. (29) Kevin Harvick, Chevrolet.

31. (23) Hut Stricklin, Dodge.

32. (1) Steve Park, Chevrolet.

33. (25) Joe Nemechek, Chevrolet.

34. (44) Steve Grissom, Dodge.

35. (43) John Andretti, Dodge.

36. (11) Brett Bodine, Ford.

37. (7) Casey Atwood, Dodge.

38. (36) Ken Schrader, Pontiac.

39. (26) Todd Bodine, Ford.

40. (14) Stacy Compton, Pontiac.

41. (90) Hermie Sadler, Ford.

42. (85) Carl Long, Ford.

43. (46) Frank Kimmel, Ford.