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Following a 19th-place finish in the season ending standings to go with zero wins, five top-fives and 15 top-10s, Clint Bowyer will no doubt be looking to get back to victory lane in 2015.

A new season, with a new defending champion, will be soon upon us. Kevin Harvick and the rest of the boys, and girl, will be in Daytona in less than a month to kick things off.

As we enter 2015 and the hype for the 2015 season begins, I figured why not do a top 30 points prediction? This list will come out in parts, once a week starting with 30th to 28th, 27th to 22nd, 21st-17th, then four per week ending during Daytona 500 week.

After running a partial XFINITY Series schedule, Sam Hornish Jr. believed that he was ready to make the transition to the Sprint Cup Series. However, that was far from the truth. In running the full schedule in 2009 and 2010, Hornish only produced two top-fives and eight top-10s, with finishes of 28th and 29th in points.

There were those who put on the fire suits, got to be among the big boys, but when it came time to go they might have been best suited to go down the road instead of the track. Instead of being competitors, they were lucky to be participants, saddled in entries that had no hope of being anywhere near the front.

As the NASCAR season approaches anticipation builds for the endless possibilities that a new year can bring. Will Earnhardt Jr. contend for a title? Will Smoke rise again? Will Kyle Larson finally grab that win? Will Roush Fenway Racing regain its former glory?

Over the course of the season, Jeff Gordon was the top driver of 2014. However, NASCAR has not determined its champion using the results of the entire campaign for more than a decade. They want excitement, drama, unpredictability. They want what the other big boy sports have, and when they waved the flag to start the season finale, four drivers had an even shot to claim the prize. Unfortunately, 39 we knew who would not, also were out there.

1. Kevin Harvick: Harvick’s four-tire pit stop on a caution with 20 laps to go keyed his victory at Homestead, giving him the Sprint Cup championship. Harvick held off Ryan Newman to claim his first title.

Watching the Cup finale was like watching most Nationwide races. Few of the participants actually matter. You have your winner, you have those who actually are competing for the prize, and then you have the odd spectacular, special moment. Sunday’s race marked the end of ESPN’s run, which meant no more Allen, no more Dale, no more Andy, no more Rusty, no more Brad, and no more Nicole. A special moment, indeed.

As the Florida sun faded to darkness at Homestead-Miami Speedway and a first-time champion was crowned, here is what was surprising and not surprising in the season’s final race, the Ford EcoBoost 400.