LOUDON, N.H. – No real surprises in qualifying Thursday, unless you count the appearance of some blue sky and sunshine.

Darrell Wallace Jr. paced the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East field in New Hampshire 125 practice at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, while Eric Beers continued his strong showing on the big track in the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour ranks.

Wallace posted a fast lap of 30.037 seconds (126.804 mph) around the 1.058-mile oval, less than two-tenths of a second slower than the track record Brett Moffitt set here in this race last season. Wallace sits third in the series standings with two races remaining.

While attending a Boston Red Sox game on Wednesday night, Wallace was informed that the No. 6 U.S. Army Toyota he brought to New Hampshire this weekend is the same one his Revolution Racing team plans on taking to the season-finale in Dover, Del., next week.

 

Points leader Max Gresham posted the third-fastest lap in practice. Rookie Daniel Suarez was a strong second, while Moffitt was 11th.

Beers continued his strong showing at New Hampshire this season by pacing the Whelen Modified Tour teams.

Beers, who qualified on the outside pole here in August, topped 130 mph on the speed chart during practice for the New Hampshire 100. He ended up just ahead of Ron Silk, Justin Bonsignore and Ryan Newman.

– TB