Austin Prock, behind the wheel of a Camaro for John Force Racing, won his seventh Funny Car race of the season Sunday at the 16th annual NHRA Carolina Nationals in Charlotte.

Prock clocked a 3.924-second elapsed time at 326.48 mph to defeat Matt Hagan’s 3.958, 324.98 in the finals at zMAX Dragway.

Prock has won three races in a row: the U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis, followed by the Countdown to the Championship in Reading, Pa., a week ago, and now Charlotte.

“Yeah, it's been surreal, but this is, as I keep saying, storybook stuff – stuff that you just dream of happening, and a lot of times it doesn't,” Prock said. “And my team's just been doing such a great job and giving me an opportunity to learn every time I get out there. But really cool to win in Mr. [Rick] Hendrick's hometown here. He's in Europe right now, and he was so proud to have his name on the side of this race car this weekend. So, like I said at the top end, this trophy is going back to him. Really proud of that.

“There's no better feeling than making your sponsors happy, proud, [and] making your team owner proud. John called me twice since we won, and he's grinning ear to ear and just so happy that I'm getting to do it with my family as well. He's gotten to race with his family a lot, and he's returning the favor to us.”

On Sunday, Prock upended Alexis DeJoria, Ron Capps, JFR teammate Jack Beckman, then Hagan out of the Tony Stewart Racing stable

From 2019-23, Prock wheeled a Top Fuel dragster for JFR, finishing a career-best third in the points standings in 2022. He collected four national-event wins and three No. 1 qualifiers.

Then, this year, he was given the task of driving a JFR Funny Car when three-time world champion driver Robert Hight was sidelined by a medical condition. He also has 11 No. 1 qualifiers in 16 races in his JFR Camaro.

Prock extended his points lead to 129 points over second-place Tasca with four races remaining in the season.

“Yeah, we left the door open to get beat a couple times. First round, had multiple [cylinders] out on the right side, eating the engine up. I had as much wheel in it left as I possibly could to keep it off the wall, keep it somewhat in the groove, to not smoke the tires and get my first round,” Prock said. “Second round, the thing spun and spun about the same place it did [Saturday night], and I was able to keep the header flames going straight and keep that momentum and thrust going. And I just got it to the finish line. It sounded terrible, but I was willing to blow that thing up to turn on another win light because I know how valuable they are in the Countdown.”

Prock’s crew chief and father, Jimmy Prock, flipped the tune-up script when Austin was paired in the semifinals against Beckman, who is at the wheel while Force recovers from a late-June crash.

“My team made wholesale changes going into the semifinals – like stuff, I would say, 95% of the crew chiefs wouldn't change going into a round, and it went up there and flew,” Austin said. “It stuck. It was on a mission, and it did the same thing in the final round.

“So, it is so unbelievable to race with my dad and my [brother Thomas] and Nate Hildahl. This whole team, they study their craft so hard, and they're so passionate about what they do, and they believe in themselves. And each one of us believes in each other's craft, and that's how you persevere on weekends when you're struggling. I wouldn't say we're failing, but we just went where we typically have been this year, and we put it all together and ended up rolling out of here with a win.”

This was Prock’s second career victory in Charlotte as he won the 4-Wide Nationals in Top Fuel in 2023.

Prock will try and extend his win streak to four races in a row when the series visits metro St. Louis for the Midwest Nationals next weekend (Sept. 27-29).

“(I’m) going to celebrate first, and then get my head back in the game, and go and try it again. Maybe run one run at a time. I did not drive that well this weekend,” Prock said. “Qualifying, I made a lot of mistakes. I cost us No. 1 qualifier this weekend. Last night, I almost crashed the thing – thing got away from me just trying to leg it and overdriving it, but [Sunday], I got it all together. I missed it in the final foot twitch, a lot of glare on the tree, and just trying to anticipate it, which hasn't been my style lately. So, I was glad I was driving the Prock Rocket in the final there, and we could drive around Hagan.”

Now Austin is focusing on the remaining races that stand between him and his first world championship.

“It feels closer because there's only four more to go. Like I said, you just got to take it one moment at a time, one round at a time,” he said. “And if you do that, you don't get caught up in being the leader, being the chaser. … Go up there and do the best that you can do, because each person on the team has a specific job to do, and they have to do it perfect to have the success. I think about that, and I think a lot about how hard everyone else works on this team, and it makes me want to work that much harder to ensure that I'm going to do a good enough job for them.”