Amid beer cans, Gordon has Earnhardt-like charge (cont'd)

Sunday was a start. Before the race, Talladega president Grant Lynch asked fans over the public address system to not throw items on the racetrack. The track brought in additional security, augmenting its police force with uniformed law enforcement officers from different jurisdictions. A speedway spokeswoman said no injuries were reported, but that 10 people were detained by security. Whether or not charges will be filed depends on positive identification, not the easiest thing in a crowd of 180,000 people.

"It's very unfortunate a few unruly fans can ruin things for a lot of people," said Jim Hunter, NASCAR's vice president for corporate communications. "The track put a lot of effort into preventing this type of behavior. Our fans are passionate, but this type of behavior doesn't represent the majority of our fans."

It wasn't as bad as 2004, when Gordon edged ahead of Earnhardt Jr. just before a caution flew with four laps remaining -- that was before the implementation of the green-white-checker rule -- and cans and water bottles littered the frontstretch like confetti in Victory Lane. But Sunday, they couldn't even wait until the race was over. Cans pelted the cars as they rolled through the tri-oval at caution speed to complete the final lap, and then targeted Gordon's Chevy as he made a meager attempt at a burnout near the exit of Turn 4.

"Lots of beer was getting thrown out there," said innocent bystander Kasey Kahne. "I was away from it, so I was missing it, but they were hitting a lot of cars."

Maybe if they had put the beer cans down and watched the end of the race, they would have seen the similarities between the way Gordon won Sunday and the way Earnhardt often won here, with dramatic charges to the front at the very end. Gordon led 71 laps, more than any other driver, but found himself in 12th place with eight laps left in regulation after stopping to top off the fuel tank.

He didn't stay there for long, finding the fast lane and flying to the front. It wasn't quite Earnhardt's final victory, his epic performance here in October of 2000 when he somehow vaulted from 18th to first over the final five laps. But it was close -- Gordon climbed from 12th to first in a span of six laps, closing with an Earnhardt-like finish to win on what would have been Earnhardt's birthday and on Earnhardt's best track. Too bad all the falling beer cans obscured it.

Even Gordon wasn't sure how he did it. "I've got to go back and look at the video," he said. "So much happened. So many races like this ... it's like a blur. Your job is to put your foot on the floor, pick the right lane, get the momentum, and either push the right guy or get a push from the right guy."

And when it was over, he had career victory No. 77, and sixth place on NASCAR's all-time list all to himself. No one recognized the significance of the moment more than Gordon himself, who honored Earnhardt by flying a No. 3 flag on his victory lap at Phoenix. But Sunday, at a place where the late seven-time champion was such an icon, Gordon didn't quite know how to react.

"On one hand I want to jump up and down, celebrating getting No. 77 at Talladega, where three-quarters of the grandstand is pulling against us. On the other side, I respected Dale so much, I learned so much from him, knowing today would have been his birthday and knowing how many people up there would have loved to have seen Dale Earnhardt Jr. win this race, it's tough," he said.

"I certainly didn't want to start a riot today. Hopefully, nobody got injured with what happened today. I wanted to break the record, and it feels awesome to do it. It's cool, but why did it have to happen at Talladega? I go back and forth."

The opinions expressed are solely those of the writer.