Which one is the real Kes? (Getty Images)

It's time for the final Power Rankings of the 2012 season, and we're proud to name Jimmie Johnson our winner! Ha, no, we're kidding, just gettin' your goat. You know who leads. Heck, you know who fits in everywhere on this list. And remember, we're very biased. But only against your guy. Whoever he is. For now, enjoy these final season rankings, along with a look forward at what 2013 should hold for each driver.

1. Brad Keselowski. What can you say? Keselowski left no doubt whatsoever that he's the best driver in NASCAR right now. No conspiracy theories, no fake cautions, nothing. And his instant star-making performances in the wake of winning the race might, just might, bring back a few lapsed fans. Last week: 1.

2. Jimmie Johnson. NASCAR is a team sport, and in this case Johnson's team let him down. It happens. But there's no reason to expect he won't be back challenging for No. 6 again this time next year. Last week: 2.

3. Clint Bowyer. Bowyer had the kind of reliable week-in,

Joey Logano dons his awesome firesuit suit one more time. (Via @JoeyLogano)

Joey, we're glad you had the opportunity to wear this beauty one more time before you head off to Penske Racing.

Bottoms up! (Getty Images)

HOMESTEAD, Fla. - Thirty-six races, 13,824 miles, 74 drivers ... and the entire Sprint Cup championship turned on a single minute. Hope turned to despair, fear turned to exultation, and an entire season fell into place.

Brad Keselowski came into the season's final race needing only a 15th-place finish to guarantee a Sprint Cup series victory over Jimmie Johnson. For a guy who had won five races and boasted an average finish of 10.1, that seemed as close to a slam-dunk as a NASCAR championship gets these days.

But this is NASCAR, and Keselowski was running against the most ruthlessly efficient team in the sport. The 28-year-old, running in only his third full year in NASCAR, talked an outstanding game. But Johnson had said that at some point, the magnitude of the championship Chase weighs down on you ... and for Keselowski, that moment came at 5:40 in the afternoon.

He'd started on the front row, but before the race was even a few minutes old was already slipping back into the pack.

This is one of the best moments ever on "SportsCenter." Brad Keselowski is just minutes from winning the Sprint Cup championship, and when a skinny kid like him, dehydrated to the point of exhaustion, starts pounding beer, he's going to get lit, even if that beer is Miller Lite. Observe how he juggles everything from praise to sponsor mentions to Winston freakin' Churchill in the space of under five minutes.

[Related: Beer-chugging champ Brad Keselowski is perfect NASCAR pitchman]

Your new Sprint Cup champion, friends. This is going to be fun.

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After Sunday's Ford 400, Clint Bowyer said that after the events at Phoenix International Raceway with Jeff Gordon, his focus was on finishing ahead of one of Gordon's Hendrick teammates in the points standings. That teammate was Kasey Kahne, who was two points ahead of Bowyer after Gordon took out Bowyer at Phoenix in retaliation for contact a few laps earlier.

With his second-place finish Sunday, Bowyer stayed plenty ahead of Kahne, and he also passed another Hendrick car in the points standings, five-time champion Jimmie Johnson, to finish second overall.

"To be honest with you, I had no idea. I didn't even think I could reach second," Bowyer said. "I was focused on two points behind [Kahne]. That was my goal was we had to somehow beat the 5, and that's no easy task. They've been running well each and every week. Seems like Kasey will have a good day or a good weekend and then we have a good weekend and we never could really separate ourselves throughout the Chase. Seemed like

Jeff Gordon got his second win of the year in the final race of the 2012 season. (Getty)

Jeff Gordon began the final race weekend of 2012 answering questions about his actions at Phoenix International Raceway five days before. And he ended the weekend in victory lane after winning the Ford 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Of course, he was answering questions about Phoenix there too. Because, in an all-too-coincidental outcome, the driver he had his Phoenix beef with, Clint Bowyer, finished second.

In the clip that's been replayed numerous times on televisions around the country and the world and brought NASCAR (good or bad, depending on your preference) attention on mainstream news outlets all over the country, Gordon retaliated against Bowyer for contact just laps earlier, and crashed both cars in the process. That led to a melee in the pits involving both drivers' teams, Gordon hiding in a tool box next to the scrum and Bowyer sprinting from his car on pit road all the way to Gordon's hauler in search of the four-time champion.

On Friday, Gordon expressed regret for

Brad Keselowski celebrates his first Sprint Cup champinship. (Getty)

HOMESTEAD, Fla. — Brad Keselowski's astronomically fast rise through the ranks of NASCAR is now complete. On Sunday, Keselowski completed a triumphant season by holding off Jimmie Johnson to win his first Sprint Cup championship.

Keselowski entered the season riding momentum from last year's surprise rise into a Chase wild-card spot, but it took him exactly half a race to prove he would be a center of attention all year long. While Daytona International Speedway burned as a result of a track fire, Keselowski pulled out his phone and began tweeting in the middle of the Daytona 500. Within hours, he'd gained tens of thousands of followers and given NASCAR more publicity with one tiny phone than it could get with a hundred cameras.

Throughout the rest of 2012, Keselowski also proved that he could run strong at every kind of track: short, superspeedway, cookie-cutter, road. He stared down challengers on and off the track, most notably Johnson. The five-time champion appeared primed for

The view of the start of the United States Grand Prix from Turn 1. (Getty)

If the cowboy hats donned on the heads of the drivers atop the podium after Sunday's United States Grand Prix were any indication, Formula 1 enjoyed its stay in the Lone Star state this weekend.

The world's most prominent racing series was back in the states for the first time since the 2007 USGP at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. And from the early returns; the enthusiasm, the crowd (an announced 80,000+ attended qualifying on Saturday), and the lack of traffic problems, this inaugural race at the Circuit of the Americas just outside Austin was a success. And it'll be the most-watched race of the entire weekend.

Yeah, that's including the Sprint Cup season-finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

On the American scene, the date choice for the first Circuit of the Americas United States Grand Prix seemed a curious one. It was up against the NFL's early games and scheduled to end during the opening segment of the Ford 400. (The University of Texas football team was off on Saturday.) Did Bernie