Gordon's mark may not win fans, but it wins respect

	Although Jeff Gordon's passing of Dale Earnhardt in the record books didn't please some of the fans at Talladega, it likely wouldn't have rankled Dale Sr., himself. AP

It's time to stop focusing on the rowdy fans at Talladega and concentrate on acknowledging a defining moment in NASCAR history.

The last place that Jeff Gordon wanted to be Sunday when he overtook Dale Earnhardt for sixth place on the all-time NASCAR wins list was Talladega. The worst day he could have done it on would be the anniversary of the Intimidator's birthday, which would have been the late driver's 56th.

And as you know by now, that's exactly how the story played out on Sunday when Gordon took his 77th Cup victory.

"I certainly didn't want to start a riot, and hopefully nobody got injured,"said Gordon after the race. "But I wanted to break that record. I keep going back and forth. Oh man! Why did it have to happen at Talladega?"

Whether the fans at Talladega Speedway were angry at Gordon, who won for the second-straight weekend, or angry for the race that finished under yellow after a green-white-checkered attempt we'll never know for sure. No matter, the post-race result was predictable. Gordon's No. 24 Chevrolet was pelted with beer cans, bottles and other debris, depriving him of the unalloyed joy of victory. It was just like in 2004, when he beat Dale Earnhardt Jr. in Talladega.

That doesn't make it right.

Did the fans know that Big E, himself, had nothing but admiration for Gordon even from the beginning? Earnhardt talked to Gordon's car owner, Rick Hendrick, before he was hired.

"Earnhardt said to me one day ...'This guy knows how to race,'" said Hendrick after Gordon's historic win Sunday. "He knew that before we got him" Hendrick added.

Consider what Gordon has accomplished. Think how hard it is to win one race, let alone multiple races and do that consistently over a career, and do it for one team. "I haven't been able to reflect to even understand where 77 [could] even come from," said Gordon modestly after the race. "It's pretty unbelievable."

Back in King Richard Petty's day, when there was more than one race in a week, it was possible over a career to earn 200 victories. That's not going to happen anymore.

Check out the preparation of today's Nextel Cup cars and you'll see a level of professionalism that didn't exist previously. It's virtually impossible to carry an advantage for an entire season. That's why there has not been a runaway champion recently, and that's why the Chase for the Cup was born.