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<\/figure>\n\u201cTo win the U.S. Nationals in my rookie season (in Funny Car) was obviously really special,\u201d Prock said. \u201cWe came out guns blazing, and it just put a little bit of an extra pep in our step. To go out there and execute and do the job and have a dominant performance like we did last year, and then to come back again this year and do it is just surreal. When you win the U.S. Nationals once, it puts you in an elite group. When you do it back-to-back, it\u2019s an even more elite group.\u201d<\/p>\n
The payday reflected the magnitude of the achievement. Between the Callout and the U.S. Nationals, Prock earned $330,000 for the weekend, a staggering sum in today\u2019s nitro ranks. It was the capstone on a regular season that saw him rack up seven wins in 2025, 15 in his last 32 Funny Car starts, and 19 overall since the start of his career. His numbers are jaw-dropping by any standard, let alone for a driver just entering his prime.<\/p>\n
But Prock insists that the trophies and stats are simply the result of being in the right situation at the right time. <\/p>\n \u201cIt was a dream of mine to win a championship, but you never know if that\u2019s going to happen,\u201d he said. \u201cSo many stars have to align. You have to get the right opportunity. You have to be surrounded by the right people. You have to have the right sponsors backing you. So, to get a U.S. Nationals win last year and then win the championship and then come back to win the Cornwell Quality Tools U.S. Nationals again, I don\u2019t even know what to say.\u201d<\/p>\n As the NHRA Funny Car points reset for the six-race Countdown to the Championship, Prock will once again be the man with the target on his back. He begins the postseason as the No. 1 seed, with teammate Beckman second and Matt Hagan in third. The slate may be closer than it was during the regular season, but Prock\u2019s form suggests he\u2019ll be hard to reel in.<\/p>\n \u201cLast year we rolled into the Countdown and won Reading and Charlotte back-to-back,\u201d Prock said. \u201cWhen you can do that, more than likely you extend your points lead a pretty good bit. If we want to give ourselves a good shot at winning this championship, I think we\u2019re going to have to go out and try and win two or three more in a row to give us a little bit of a pad in case you do have a mishap. That\u2019s how you have to look at it to get the job done.\u201d<\/p>\n Prock is also quick to remind that nothing is guaranteed in drag racing. <\/p>\n \u201cGetting caught up in all the emotion of what\u2019s going on doesn\u2019t help anything,\u201d he said. \u201cYou just need to get in the car and execute. That\u2019s what we did last year. Every single session matters, every single point matters. I\u2019ve won a championship by two points before in other categories, and that\u2019s two qualifying positions on a Friday. It all adds up.\u201d<\/p>\n For Prock, the U.S. Nationals represented more than just another victory \u2013 it was confirmation that he and crew chief Jimmy Prock, his father, have found a consistent sweet spot with their combination. The car qualified strong, ran record speeds, and delivered on Monday when it mattered most. <\/p>\n \u201cThis team is just incredible,\u201d he said. \u201cThey put me in position every week to go out and do my job. I\u2019m proud of what we\u2019ve accomplished, but I\u2019m even more excited about what\u2019s ahead. We\u2019ve got six races to go finish this deal, and I know we have a car that can win it again.\u201d<\/p>\n The 40th NHRA Reading Nationals at Maple Grove Raceway, Sept. 19-21, will provide the first test. It\u2019s a track where Funny Car performances routinely push the limits, and with cooler fall air expected, conditions could favor another round of record-breaking runs. Prock is eager to set the tone. <\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m glad we have three races in a row to start the Countdown,\u201d he said. \u201cYou can really get into a groove, and it\u2019ll kind of make or break your fate. We\u2019ve worked really hard to get to this point, and now it\u2019s time to go execute.\u201d<\/p>\n From Indy\u2019s richest payday to the first playoff weekend in Pennsylvania, Prock knows his legacy is being written in real time. Back-to-back U.S. Nationals, a dominant regular season, and the No. 1 seed in the Countdown \u2013 the numbers already put him in rare air. But the young star is chasing something bigger. <\/p>\n \u201cWinning one championship is special,\u201d he said. \u201cTo win two in a row, that\u2019s a whole different category. That\u2019s what we\u2019re after.\u201d<\/p>\n The post Austin Prock Sets Sights on Second Straight Championship After Historic Indy Win<\/a> first appeared on Drag Illustrated<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Austin Prock walked away from Indianapolis with a bag full of money, another U.S. Nationals Wally, and the kind of momentum every Funny Car driver dreams of heading into the Countdown to the Championship. Behind the wheel of his Cornwell Quality Tools Chevrolet SS, the 28-year-old turned in a flawless weekend at Lucas Oil Indianapolis […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-102166","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102166","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=102166"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102166\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=102166"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=102166"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=102166"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/dragillustrated.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Prock_MGB_web.jpg\")
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