Auto Racing | Gordon gets win, shower of debris

TALLADEGA, Ala. — They went to jail for Dale here Sunday.

But nowhere near all the culprits were handcuffed and hauled away after a massive bombardment with full beer cans from the grandstands met Jeff Gordon's 77th career victory, surpassing the lifetime total of the late Dale Earnhardt on what would have been the icon's 56th birthday.

The reception was so nasty after Gordon won the Aaron's 499 that he couldn't decide whether to feel elated or guilty over snapping a tie with Earnhardt for sixth on NASCAR's all-time winners list at the track where Earnhardt might be worshipped most.

"I certainly didn't want to start a riot today and hopefully nobody got injured with what happened," Gordon said after the Nextel Cup Series race. "But I wanted to break the record, and it's pretty awesome to do it here today. So I keep going back and forth: 'It's cool,' then, 'Oh, man, why did it have to happen at Talladega?' "

Retired Richard Petty leads with 200 career Cup wins.

Fewer than 10 missile hurlers were detained and no injuries were reported, according to Talladega Superspeedway officials who had repeatedly warned fans before the race that they would be arrested for such a display. It was simply too hard to spot and catch all the perpetrators in a crowd estimated at more than 180,000.

Gordon's teammate, runner-up Jimmie Johnson, said, "I could see in the mirror that there were a lot more [thrown cans] behind us. I'm not sure if they were upset because the race finished under caution, or if it was at Jeff."

But Gordon appeared almost to be taunting the crowd as he completed his victory lap. He began doing a celebratory burnout. The storm intensified, and there was no doubt about its focus.

"It was probably a bad decision, I'll admit, looking back on it, for the safety of the fans," said Gordon, who was the object of a lighter shelling after he won the previous weekend in Arizona.

Kasey Kahne of Enumclaw finished 12th. Vancouver, Wash., native Greg Biffle was 29th.

Note

• Ashley Force, 24, won the first father-daughter race in NHRA history, edging 14-time series champion John Force in the first round of Funny Car eliminations in the NHRA Southern Nationals at Atlanta Dragway in Commerce, Ga.

"She's a great young driver and she's probably gonna whip me a bunch, but I'm OK with it because she's my baby," John Force said.

Robert Hight won the Funny Car final. Other winners were Brandon Bernstein (Top Fuel), Greg Anderson (Pro Stock) and Karen Stoffer (Pro Stock Motorcycle).