Though Jeff Gordon was capturing all the attention, Regan Smith was setting some history of his own.

The Cato native piloted the No. 1 U.S. Army Chevy to 24th place in the Aaron's 499 - Smith's best finish on the Nextel Cup Series in three tries - at Talladega Superspeedway on Sunday. In his two previous appearances in Nextel races, Smith finished 25th at Bristol Motorspeedway and 26th at Martinsville.

Sunday's performance, which resulted in a $104,000 pay day, comes a day after finishing 23rd in the Aaron's 312 on the Busch Series.