Winston Cup veterans like Dale Jarrett, Bill Elliott, Mark Martin and Rusty Wallace know they are really starting to get old when a young hot shot driver comes along and makes them blush with embarrassment as he tells them that they were his heroes growing up. He then proceeds to regale the experienced drivers with tales of how he used to kick their butts on the track.

In a video game, that is.

	Entering Sunday's race at Bristol, Jimmie Johnson sits fifth in the series standings.

That's exactly what red-hot rookie Jimmie Johnson used to do on a small screen. Now he's on a real track in a real car, against the same heroes he worshipped growing up -- and now he's kicking their butts in real life.

"Each week, if we perform well, I build up some confidence and lose some of the 'awe factor' of racing with some of my heroes," Johnson said. "The first few races last year (he competed in three events last season) and this year, it kind of still felt like that. But now that I'm building up respect and confidence in myself, the 'awe factor' is kind of wearing off and I'm just becoming a racer."

And a very good racer, at that.

While Johnson has made a quick transition from joysticks to steering wheels, he's making things look too easy -- almost as if he's back playing video games.

Heading into Sunday's Food City 500 at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway, Johnson, driver of the No. 48 Chevrolet, is fifth in the standings, 158 points behind leader Sterling Marlin, the only two-time winner on the circuit this season. Johnson is also just three points behind Ryan Newman in the Rookie of the Year rankings.

Things started out strong in Johnson's rookie campaign with a surprising pole-winning run for the season-opening Daytona 500 (finished 15th), followed by a disappointing 28th-place performance the following week at Rockingham, N.C.

But since that poor outing at The Rock, Johnson has been one of the hottest drivers on the circuit, finishing sixth at Las Vegas, third at Atlanta and sixth last Sunday at Darlington, S.C.

Things are going so well for Johnson that he's even ahead of defending series champ, teammate and boss Jeff Gordon, who jumped from 11th to sixth in the points after Sunday's race.

Now Johnson moves from the track "Too Tough To Tame" to the fender-banging capital of NASCAR at Bristol. Tradition dictates that if you don't leave Bristol without a few creases in your body and a smudged up paint scheme, you haven't really run a good race.

Johnson is no stranger to Bristol, having competed there four times in his Busch Series career, with his two highest finishes coming last season: a fourth-place run in the Cheez-It 250 and a 12th-place showing in the Food City 250.

"I've had decent luck at Bristol in the past," said Johnson, who also has finishes of 23rd and 24th in other races at Bristol, both due to crashes. "If my car doesn't wreck, it seems like I usually finish in or around the top-10."

He's hoping to carry over some of that previous success at Bristol this Sunday.

"Bristol is a lot like Darlington in the sense that you really don't know what to expect once you unload the car off the truck," Johnson said. "Every time there seems different. Just like Darlington, it's a track that's very driver-intensive.

"Bristol is a track that you can figure out in 20 laps whether or not you're going to love it or hate it. I've heard that it's rained a lot there lately, so maybe we'll have to race boats there this weekend. As long as the No. 48 Lowe's Chevy can avoid the accidents and keep all of our fenders on with 20 laps to go, we'll have a solid finish."

Because he's a rookie with the defending champion as a teammate and driving for the high-profile Hendrick Motorsports team, Johnson has to be a bit more mindful that while racing is fun, it's also serious business. But where other rookies often underestimate the competition level, Johnson has fit in with veterans like he's been there before.

"Last weekend in Darlington, I was coming off of pit road and saw Dale Jarrett in my rearview mirror," Johnson said. "Jarrett is known for running well at Darlington and I said to myself, 'Here we go, these guys are going to eat me up.'

"We came up on lapped traffic and instead of him passing me, I started knocking off cars and he stayed in my rearview mirror. The whole Lowe's team is building confidence and we believe that we can run with the best. The team works extremely hard and puts in the time and effort each week to make sure that the No. 48 Chevy is ready to run well. The hard work and effort of this team is showing with the results that we're getting."

That's why Johnson's youthful exuberance is tempered by the reality of his profession. He knows actual racing is a far cry from video games. Still, he's enjoying what has become a very successful ride very early in his career.

"If I was greedy, I guess I could have hoped for five wins at this stage," Johnson said. "But seriously, this is incredible. I didn't think that we'd be this competitive from the start.

"Being associated with Hendrick Motorsports, Jeff Gordon, Lowe's and having a great crew lead by (crew chief) Chad Knaus, I knew we had the components to be competitive, but each week we continue to run at the front and are competing with the best of the best.

"This team will experience its share of ups and downs this season, but we've proved to ourselves that we can compete at a high level. The scary thing here is that this is a young team that is building for the future. For many of us, especially Chad and I, we're heading into only our sixth race working together.

"As this season progresses, if we continue to build on the team's chemistry that already exists, who knows what this team will accomplish."

Jerry Bonkowski covers NASCAR for ESPN.com.