Jeff Gluck

USA TODAY Sports

HOMESTEAD, Fla. — A revamped Chase for the Sprint Cup format and a new rules package made for some interesting statistics this season.

Here's a look at the top 30 drivers with a notable stat nugget for each:

1. Kevin Harvick: Led more laps this season ( 2,137) than in his previous seven years combined and won more poles (eight) than in his entire 13-year career combined (six).

2. Ryan Newman: Had no wins for the fourth time in his career and finished second only once all year — but that was in the final race, and it nearly won him the championship.

3. Denny Hamlin: Led the identical number of laps this year (363) while finishing third in points as he did last year while finishing 23rd. Hamlin missed four full races and part of a fifth in 2013 after suffering a broken back in a March race at Fontana, Calif. Hamlin missed this year's Fontana race after a piece of metal got stuck in his eye.

4. Joey Logano: A career year in nearly every major category, including wins, top-five finishes, top-10 finishes, laps led, average start and average finish.

5. Brad Keselowski: Best average starting position (7.4) in the Sprint Cup Series since Newman (6.3) in 2005.

6. Jeff Gordon: Finished sixth in points for the second straight year despite three more wins, six more top-five finishes, six more top-10 finishes and 649 more laps led than last season.

7. Matt Kenseth: Wins declined from seven to zero, following the runner-up jinx — drivers who finished second in points have seen their win totals fall from a combined 39 to one (Hamlin, 2010) the next season.

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8. Dale Earnhardt Jr.: Had as many wins this year (four) as in his previous nine seasons combined.

9. Carl Edwards: Led 135 laps — the fewest of his 10-year career.

10. Kyle Busch: Worst average finish (17.6) since his rookie season in 2005 (21.0).

11. Jimmie Johnson: Finished worse than sixth in the standings for the first time in his 13-year career.

12. Kurt Busch: Had five fewer top-five and top-10 finishes at Stewart-Haas Racing than with Furniture Row Racing last season.

13. AJ Allmendinger: Finished 13th in points with a car that finished 31st in the owner point standings last season.

14. Greg Biffle: Broke Herman Beam's record of 84 straight races running at the finish (1961-63) and made it 89 races without a DNF until crashing at Daytona in July.

15. Kasey Kahne: Had just three top-five finishes after averaging 11.5 in his first two years at Hendrick Motorsports.

WATCH: How Kevin Harvick won his first Cup title

16. Aric Almirola: In addition to scoring first career win, also set new career highs in top-fives (two) and top-10s (seven).

17. Kyle Larson: The rookie's average finish of 14.2 ranked eighth in the series, ahead of drivers like Hamlin, Edwards and Johnson.

18. Jamie McMurray: Though he won the Sprint All-Star Race, McMurray was held winless in points races for the third time in four years.

19. Clint Bowyer: Fewest top-10 finishes (15) and worst average finish (17.1) since his rookie season in 2006.

20. Austin Dillon: Along with Jeff Gordon, was one of only two drivers in the series to be running at the finish of every race — the second consecutive year a rookie has done so (Ricky Stenhouse Jr.).

21. Paul Menard: Had the most top-fives (five) and top-10s (13) of his eight-year career.

22. Brian Vickers: After rising to eighth in points following the Coca-Cola 600 in May, Vickers had just one finish better than 10th the rest of the season.

PHOTOS: Key moments in NASCAR's 2014 season

23. Marcos Ambrose: In his final season as a NASCAR driver, Ambrose's average starting position and average finishing position were identical (19.9).

24. Martin Truex Jr.: Disappointing year saw Truex finish 24th in the standings with a car that was 10th in 2013.

25. Tony Stewart: Not only did he fail to win a race for the first time in his 16-year career, but Stewart also had career-worsts in top-fives (three), top-10s (seven) and average finish (20.0). Stewart also had a tumultuous year away from NASCAR tracks. He missed three races after his sprint car struck and killed Kevin Ward Jr. on a dirt track in Upstate New York on Aug. 9. This came on the heels of the three-time Cup champion missing the final 15 races of 2013 after breaking his leg in a sprint car race in Iowa.

26. Casey Mears: Improved his average finish for the fifth straight year and had his first top-five finish since 2008 (July Daytona race).

27. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.: Dropped from 19th to 27th in the standings from rookie to sophomore season and failed to lead a single lap all year.

28. Danica Patrick: Despite improving average finish from 26.1 to 23.7, finished lower in the standings this year than last year (27th).

29. Justin Allgaier: Eight of his 10 top-20 finishes came in the final 16 races of the season.

30. David Gilliland: Was Front Row Motorsports' top finishing driver for the second straight year.

Follow Gluck on Twitter @jeff_gluck