It hasn't been an easy week to work in the NASCAR public relations department.

First Tony Stewart throws the entire sport under the bus with his comments about NASCAR manipulating races with debris caution flags and questioning the sanctioning body's integrity.

Is Tony Stewart ever happy when he doesn't end up in Victory Lane? (US Presswire)

Then there was Sunday's sickening scene at Talladega Superspeedway of Jeff Gordon being pummeled with beer cans, trash and other debris by "fans," some of which were unhappy with him surpassing Dale Earnhardt's career win mark of 76 with his Aaron's 499 victory.

Let's just say these haven't been the finest moments in NASCAR history.

Gordon's win at Talladega, which has been pro-Earnhardt headquarters for more than 30 years, pushed him past "The Intimidator" on the all-time Cup victory list. The reaction Gordon received wasn't surprising and Gordon actually took some of the blame.

"It probably was a bad decision, I'll admit," Gordon said of his half-hearted attempt at a victory celebration burnout. "It did sort of egg people on. I have my fans out there, too, and when I win they want me to celebrate. At that point, I wasn't thinking about safety. It was not a good decision."

"There are a lot of fans out there who are Earnhardt fans who don't want to see the record broken," said Gordon, who took his fifth Talladega checkered flag. "I appreciate the enthusiasm. But there were a lot of people out there who didn't want to see us win."

Gordon has nothing to apologize for. The only people who were wrong were the ones who decided it would be a good idea to show their displeasure for the record-setting victory by tossing mostly full beer cans at the No. 24 car.

"I can't understand how anyone could do something like that," said Jimmie Johnson, who followed Gordon across the finish line to give Hendrick Motosports a 1-2 finish. "It's disgusting and unfortunately I see it happening more and more every week."

The bad behavior on the part of these Talladega fans, which reportedly resulted in some arrests by the Alabama State Patrol, came on the heels of some less than flattering actions on the race track.

Stewart was reprimanded for his disparaging comments by NASCAR during a Friday meeting at Talladega and then heard some harsh words from his team owner J.D. Gibbs, president of Joe Gibbs Racing.

"We're going to have a long conversation with him," Gibbs said prior to Sunday's race. "We've already had some. He knows where we are and he knows he impacts Joe Gibbs Racing, Home Depot and this sport more than he realizes.

"I want him to know we have 420 families at Joe Gibbs Racing that we need to be healthy. And for us to be healthy we need him to conduct himself in the right way. I think he understands that and realizes that."

Stewart was back in the middle of more controversy Sunday.

After rallying back from an early penalty for pit-road speeding; only to gain a lap back when ironically a caution for debris came out, Stewart was in contention for his first Talladega win until the final lap.

Stewart was hit from the rear by David Gilliland, spinning the No. 20 Chevy into the inside retaining wall with a hard hit.

Afterward, the frustrated Stewart lashed out at Gilliland.

"There was no reason for that to happen," Stewart bellowed. "So, he is just taking it out on us from (Saturday's Busch race) when he turned down across the nose. He lucked into his Cup ride."

The melee gave Stewart a 28th-place finish and dropped him to sixth in the point standings.

"It's frustrating when you work all day and you fight all day to get to the front," he said. "You go to the back, then work your way back to the front and then do it again."

The crash-filled finish, revolting fan reaction and Stewart's controversial comments took away from an historic win by Gordon and another exciting race, the sixth consecutive thrilling finish.

Unfortunately, nobody is talking about all that.

It was an ugly ending to a nasty week that didn't do much for stock car racing's reputation.