Format changes have been just one issue standing between drivers, teams and the title. Jeff Gordon, a four-time champ back in the pre-Chase days, has yet to celebrate a title won under the 10-race system. Thus he’s had no Chase title to defend.
 
Likewise, Matt Kenseth won the last outright "points" title, but so far has been unable to solve the riddle of the Chase despite his many attempts.
 
Kurt Busch won the first title back in in the days of Chase 1.0, but has rarely been heard from since.
 
Others were more fortunate. Tony Stewart was the first to show a team that could win straight up could also win when put into a 10-race showdown, winning a pre-Chase crown, then two more during seasons after the field was reset.
 
Jimmie Johnson has often been lauded (cursed?) for he and his team’s ability to dominate in the "postseason," and while it’s a fact that all six of the Hendrick Motorsports driver’s titles came after the arrival of the Chase, Johnson’s No. 48 was no ugly duckling before that — as his record shows.
 
With Johnson winning so often, few others have had the opportunity to defend a championship, and none done so successfully. Can Harvick turn the tide?
 
Stewart, who co-owns Harvick’s SHR team, says teams can do two things after winning a title, either become complacent with what’s been accomplished and ease off the throttle or continue to feed off the thrill of the battle and the success.
 
One goal has been met, Harvick said, but others remain.
 
Situations change. Rules change. Times change. Harvick, it appears, thrives on those changes.
 
A former team owner himself, Harvick put away his Nationwide (now XFINITY) and Camping World Truck Series teams to focus on his own quest for a championship after the 2011 season.
 
For the first time in his Sprint Cup career, he changed teams, moving from Richard Childress Racing to SHR before the start of 2014.
 
His personal life has had major transformations as well, with the birth of a son and most recently a re-location to the Charlotte area.
 
"In the end, we changed our whole life to try to accomplish everything that we did last year," Harvick said. "We were able to pull that off and in three years, basically, change everything that we have done. So, that’s very rewarding for all the people … everybody who has been involved in it."
 
While 25 teams will return to the track here this weekend at Daytona International Speedway for Saturday night’s Sprint Unlimited (8:15 p.m. ET, FOX), the official start of the season begins next week with the season-opening Daytona 500, scheduled for Sunday, Feb. 22 (1 p.m. ET, FOX).
 
The list of NASCAR premier series champions is a short one — Harvick is just the 30th to wear the crown.
 
It’s more important that he got here, he said, than that it took him so long to finally arrive.
 
"I think I respect it a lot more and understand how hard it is to get to this point and really know the work and effort that and how many people it takes to be a part of it," he said.
 
That hard work and effort paid off. Now it’s time to see if success is fleeting, or if the driver and team that ended 2014 on top can continue to be the best.