It was a celebration Saturday – again – for Funny Car racer Austin Prock.

Prock won his sixth consecutive Mission #2Fast2Tasty NHRA Challenge trophy, and seventh of the season, by defeating Ron Capps in the final round.

Prock, in Cornwell Tools/AAA Chevrolet Camaro SS for John Force Racing, clocked a 3.860-second elapsed time at 334.07 mph in the win. That pass also was good enough to vault Prock into the No. 1 qualifying spot at the Lucas Oil Nationals in Brainerd, Minn.

“Well, it was impressive, but the conditions were coming to everybody,” Prock said. “When we had that oildown and sat around for an hour and a half, all it was doing was making the racetrack better, and the NHRA Safety Safari did obviously an outstanding job of getting the racetrack back into tip-top shape. So, yeah, really proud of the team. We had a great day. We were low [quickest qualifier] both sessions.

“And part of me, I was a little bit nervous but excited to get another shot at a late run here because last night we threw up, and we were scratching our heads on why. It was really close to making it, and it just didn't go. My dad and Thomas Prock and Nate Hildahl, they just did a really good job analyzing what went wrong. And it went right down there and made a really nice pass and ended up with three more points, a Mission win and another yellow hat. So, pretty proud of that.”

This is Prock’s ninth No. 1 qualifier in 13 races this season. He adds Brainerd to the list that consists of Gainesville, Fla., Phoenix, Las Vegas, Chicago, Epping, N.H., Bristol, Tenn., Norwalk, Ohio, and Seattle.

When Prock was caught in the midst of the long delay he just tried to maintain his focus.

“The delay actually went pretty smooth for me. I stayed busy and tried to have some fun and just keep my mind off everything and not overthink it," he said. "But that sun, the way this track is placed, the lower the sun was getting, the glare was getting really bad on the Christmas tree. And when we were rolling up there, we were in the right lane, and I'm like, ‘Oh, yeah, Capps is going to get the bad glare' -- and I ended up with the bad glare. And I'm looking at the tree, and it flashed, and I'm like, ‘Is it on?’ And then I hit the gas. So, yeah, that [reaction time of .077] was, I'm going to blame it on the glare. But, like I said, no excuses. I got to be better than that, but it was good enough to get the job done. I made a nice, straight run. That was the first nice, clean, straight run I made all weekend -- so proud of that going into race day, and looking forward to another Sunday.”

Couple Prock’s qualifying and Mission results with his four wins and three runner-up finishes, and it is no surprise that he arrived in Brainerd No. 1 in the points standings.

Prock’s results so far in 2024 are quite amazing considering he wasn’t even supposed to drive this season.

Prock, who never raced a Funny Car full-time until this season, was thrust into this role when three-time world champion driver Robert Hight was sidelined with a medical condition.

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

Prock also addressed what is like for him now that former world champ driver Jack Beckman is, as of this weekend, filling in as his teammate for legendary John Force.

Force suffered serious injuries in a crash during the first round of the NHRA Virginia Nationals at Virginia Motorsports Park on June 23. The 75-year-old suffered traumatic brain injury, a fractured sternum and an injury to his right.

“Like I've said earlier this week, this is the most normal I've felt at the racetrack since Richmond,” Prock said. “I'm glad to have the Peak team out here. A lot of them are my good friends. And Beckman, he's just an outstanding guy. He's great for the team. He's a great spokesman, great for the fans, and he does a great job driving the race car.

"I was really proud to see him make his quickest run in that Peak car at 3.89 -- really proud of that. They moved up in the ladder just like we did. So, we should have two really strong hot rods. And I think the coolest part of this weekend so far was rolling out there Q1, and we were first and second quick the first session with him back, and just put our foot down for John Force Racing.”

The delays in Saturday’s action with rain delays and oil downs were a mental challenge for Prock.

“The track was actually in pretty good shape when we were going to run earlier, if we would've run on time,” Prock said. “I think you still would've seen some really stout runs. Maybe you wouldn't have seen quite the success rate just because the cooler conditions promote more cars going to the finish line. But I still think you could have thrown down earlier. It all worked out and ended up with a yellow hat. More or less, it was just aggravating mentally because we couldn't get a solid answer. I sat in the car, and they came by the first (time), right when the oildown (happened), and they said, ‘Five minutes. You want to get out?’ And I'm like, ‘Well, why would I get out for five minutes?’ So, I sat in there for 10 minutes. Then they came by and were like, ‘Well, it's going to be 15 minutes. Do you want to get out?’ And I'm like, ‘Well, I've already sat in here for 20, so I might as well just hang out another 15.’ Then he came back 20 minutes later, he was like, ‘Well, they're going to move you to the back, but we're getting ready to run.’

“Then they were moving me back to the front, and we were getting ready to run. And then, yeah, I got a little aggravated there. But it all worked out. Ended up going to the back, and we put on a great show for the fans, and I guarantee you they saw some awesome header flames.”