TALLADEGA, Ala. -- It seemed, at least for a few minutes, that the Intimidator had shrunk several inches and slipped inside a No. 24 car. Jeff Gordon jumped from one lane of traffic to another, clawing from the middle of the pack to the front as the final laps at Talladega Superspeedway wound down. It was the perfect way to honor Dale Earnhardt, by passing him on NASCAR's career victory list with a winning charge like he would have made.

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Not that everyone appreciated it. Seconds after it was announced over the public address system that a crash had ended the Aaron's 499 with Gordon in front, the projectiles started flying. Just as they did after Gordon won here under caution in 2004, just as they did after Gordon tied Earnhardt with his 76th career victory last weekend at Phoenix, a few spectators resorted to hooliganism. And one of the more poignant days in the sport's history was marred by beer cans raining down on the field as it approached the checkered flag (watch video).

"That's terrible," said Jimmie Johnson, who followed his Hendrick Motorsports teammate to a runner-up finish. "They're going to hurt somebody. I just can't believe that people who love this sport would take the chance to hurt a kid or hurt another person. I'm sure there are cans that didn't make it to the track that fell into the stands. A full beer can hitting somebody in the back of the head, on one level that's disrespectful. The other side of it, throwing them at racecars and damaging our racecars, that's not a way to show that you support our sport and our racing. I was just disappointed to see that."

It's gone on long enough. Despite protests from Dale Earnhardt Jr., who asked fans to throw toilet paper if they felt the desire to throw anything at all, these boozed-up copy-cat can-chuckers continue to embarrass everyone from the series to the track to the fans who behave.

It's time to take a cue from teams in the NFL, which hunt down and prosecute yahoos who toss anything onto the field. Just ask Jeffrey Lange, caught by a newspaper photographer throwing a snowball during a New York Giants game in 1995, and eventually arrested and forced to pay $650 in fines.

"I don't know what you do," said Rick Hendrick, Gordon's car owner. "You have people in there to watch it, but there are so many [fans], I don't know how you stop it. Maybe bar the guys throwing if you spot them, and don't let them come back in. It is dangerous. I don't know what we should do. The drivers have talked about it, NASCAR has talked about it. If you can't bring beer cans into the stands anymore, they're doing it to themselves. Maybe make them drink out of paper cups. Maybe that's the next step."

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.