Ever since the 2024 drag racing began, Austin Prock has been turning heads as the fill-in driver for the Funny Car driven by Robert Hight.

That continued Friday in Phoenix.

Prock, piloting a John Force Racing Camaro, clocked a 3.840-second time at 334.40 mph to take the provisional No. 1 qualifying spot at the Arizona Nationals on Friday.

“It left really nice there and the crosswind I had my hands full a little bit down track,” said Prock, who was tabbed to substitute for Hight, who is dealing with a health issue. “But that’s what I love about Funny Cars.”

Prock, who started the season by winning the PRO Superstar Shootout on Feb. 10 in Bradenton, Fla., and a $250,000 paycheck, has kept things rolling in the NHRA season.

Prock qualified No. 1 at the season-opening Gatornationals in Gainesville, Fla., and advanced to the final round before losing to J.R. Todd. After a first-round defeat at the Winternationals, Prock is trying to lock down his fifth career No. 1 qualifying position.

This Funny Car has had plenty of success with Hight at the wheel in Phoenix as he took home Wallys in 2012, 2022 and '23.

“I could see the confidence in the team this weekend,” Prock said. “We have a really good notebook of runs here. They have won the last two times they came here, and we are off to another great start. I think we were all a little bit nervous. After Pomona, Pomona was bad. It wasn’t anything we wanted to do there, and we believed in our notes (from Phoenix), and we picked up where we thought we should leave off.

“The thing flew. That was one of the quickest 60-foot ETs of all time, (0.856 seconds) to the first cone. That’s cooking in a Funny Car. I was nervous. I had not been to the finish line in about three weeks. We had a week off before Pomona and I didn’t go to the finish line there and Pomona had me in the dirt a little bit. I felt like I had to dig myself out and I think I did that"  Friday.

Prock acknowledged his performance in Pomona was weighing heavy on him.

“It was cooking first round in Pomona,” Prock said. “I re-watched the race, and they had an in-car (camera) of (Ron) Capps, and he saw a whole lot of the AAA Camaro until it went over those bumps. Like I said, my confidence was a little bit down after Pomona. That’s a really tough track to navigate, and I didn’t feel like I did a very good job driving. I had it moving around a little bit, and it went over the first bump and I had it drifting to the right a little bit and I tried to move it back and it hit the second bump and it came loose.

“I don’t think it would have made it in Pomona in the first round going over those bumps -- we call it the ski jump. We had a lot of work coming in here and we worked on some things (Thursday) getting me aiming the car properly because these Funny Cars, if you don’t have your elbows locked in by 330 (feet) when the clutch starts coming in, it is really hard to navigate it back into the groove.”

Prock has been on a mini emotional roller-coaster ride this season, and he knows that’s what he signed up for in this sport.

“That’s racing,” Prock said. “When I first started racing my dad (Jimmy Prock, who is his Funny Car crew chief) said, 'You better get used to losing because you’re going to lose a lot more than you’re going to win.' You just have to believe in your craft and believe in what you’re doing and go up there and try and be your best every time. When you are, more than likely you will be rolling out of there with a Wally.”

It was a strong Friday for JFR as Prock captured the provisional pole, and John Force and Brittany Force in Funny Car and Top Fuel, each won rounds races in the Mission #2Fast2Tasty NHRA Challenge.

“John and Brittany getting the #2Fast2Tasty wins there and moving into the final round (Saturday) is big for our organization,” Prock said. “I was talking to one of our track specialists before I came up here and I told him I hope this is a precursor of what is to come from our organization this season.”

Prock also has the advantage this weekend of having some intel on Firebird Motorsports Park.

“I actually have a handful of runs here because we used to do preseason testing here,” Prock said. “I bet I have the most runs in my career at this racetrack. This place is tricky. You get these crosswinds, and they really push these cars. You have to be ready for that and this track typically pulls you both lanes to the right and you have to analyze that. Every time you hop in this Funny Car it is showing something different and I just tell myself, 'Drive the car.'”