Austin Prock’s first championship put on hold at NHRA Finals

POMONA — Austin Prock can enjoy his weekend in Pomona for the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series Finals.

But he usually enjoys all his visits to the Southern California drag strip.

Prock, a driver for John Force Racing, is on the verge of winning his first NHRA Funny Car championship. He was 189 points ahead of teammate Jack Beckman in the Countdown to the Championship playoffs and only needed to make a qualifying run Friday to win the Funny Car championship.

Whatever else happens this weekend is extra wax on the hood.

Prock won’t officially win the Funny Car championship until qualifying is completed Saturday, but he had an insurmountable lead after Friday’s qualifying round.

Rain delayed the start of qualifying for the Funny Car and Top Fuel teams by about two hours. A second rain delay ended qualifying Friday before the Top Fuel portion was completed. Qualifying resumes Saturday starting at 11:30 a.m.

But not even the rain could put a damper on Prock’s championship season.

Beckman was the top qualifier with a 3.828-second run at 334.82 mph. Prock was second with a 3.842-second run at 331.94 mph.

“First place when I last left Pomona, first place now in my PEAK Chevrolet. That’s got a good ring to it. Friday at Pomona is always really cool weather. Friday at the Finals is always very interesting because the whole year has come down to one race, and you can’t wait to get up there for the first run,” Beckman said.

“And then we had a rain delay. In Southern California. … Now, it’s happened a lot at the Winternationals, but it doesn’t happen very often in November. It has just been a weird start to the last race of 2024. So, we get some sunshine. We drag the car up there. 3.828 and my best speed since 2020. It’s the fastest I’ve gone this year by over 2 miles an hour.”

Prock won his eighth race of the season in Las Vegas two weeks ago and it took all the pressure off of finishing the season at Pomona Dragstrip for the In-N-Out Burger NHRA Finals.

“I’ve always enjoyed coming to Pomona. It’s always a treat for me,” Prock said. “It was something to look forward to and something I got excited about as a kid. I still feel the same way about that place. It has a special place in my heart. I just love going there.”

Prock was the No. 1 qualifier in Las Vegas and beat Paul Lee in the final round. But the finals in Las Vegas were pushed back a day and ended Monday because of a couple of messy crashes Sunday

“It gets tricky sometimes. Just got to keep your head down and stay focused,” Prock said. “You still gotta do the job at hand. It’s exhausting being out there at the race track for 10, 14 hours in a row. When you end up winning it’s all worth it.”

The Top Fuel teams were not able to complete qualifying sessions because of the rain.

The top three drivers in Top Fuel Countdown to the Championship playoffs entered the NHRA Finals separated by 45 points. Justin Ashley was 44 points ahead of Antron Brown. Shawn Langdon was in third, a point behind Brown.

Ashley is in position to win his first NHRA championship. He won the NHRA Winternationals in Pomona in March and added three more victories in 2024.

“We deserve to be in this position. We’ve competed at a high level,” Ashley said. “There are a lot of other competitive race cars that can win a race at any given time, at any given moment. For us, our focus is internal.”

Brown has won three NHRA Top Fuel championships in his career and has a chance for a fourth. He said the level of competition in Top Fuel has never been higher.

“Everybody knows the stakes are high,” Brown said. “Everybody wants it. We’re doing things we normally don’t do because … we don’t want to go out there just to race. We want to win.”

Langdon was in the finals in Las Vegas two weeks ago and lost to Brittany Force. He missed an opportunity to close the gap on Ashley and Langdon and doesn’t plan on repeating it.

“You put in the hours and you trust the process,” Langdon said. “And the results fall where they are.”

In NHRA Pro Stock, Aaron Stanfield has a 32-point lead over Dallas Green. Greg Anderson is in third place, 56 points behind Stanfield.

In Pro Stock Motorcycle, Gaige Herrera has a 123-point lead over Matt Smith and can wrap up the championship after qualifying Saturday. Richard Gadson was in third place, eight points behind Smith.