QUALIFYING: Preece Captures New Hampshire 100 Pole
Fourth pole of career, second in 2009
Loudon, NH — Ryan Preece earned the 21 Means 21 Pole Award presented by Coors Light Thursday evening at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in advance of Saturday’s New Hampshire 100.
Preece, of Berlin, Conn., laid down a fast lap of 29.765 seconds (127.962 mph) at the 1.058-mile oval Thursday during time trials. It marked the second pole of the year and the fourth of his three-year career.
Ron Silk finished second in qualifying with a fast lap of 29.786 seconds (127.872 mph) driving as a teammate this week to Keith Rocco, who was third-fastest at 29.811 (127.765). Eric Beers (29.822/127.718) and Doug Coby (29.858/127.546) rounded out the top-five.
The rest of the top 10 qualifiers included Todd Szegedy, Glen Reen, Erick Rudolph, Bobby Grigas III and Mike Stefanik.
Current points leader Ted Christopher qualified 14th. Donny Lia, the June New Hampshire winner, will start at the rear of the field on Saturday after his car caught fire during practice Thursday afternoon and he was not able to qualify.
NASCAR Camping World Series East driver Steve Park qualified the No. 7 Modified for NASCAR Sprint Cup Series standout Ryan Newman on Thursday and recorded the 25th fastest time. Newman will also start at the rear of the field on Saturday because of the driver change.
The New Hampshire 100 is set to take the green flag on Saturday, Sept. 19 at 12:45 p.m. The broadcast of the race will start at 1 p.m. on a 15-minute delay on SPEED.
STARTING LINEUP | POST-QUALIFYING AUDIO WITH RYAN PREECE AND RON SILK | POST-QUALIFYING VIDEO WITH RYAN PREECE AND RON SILK