ENNIS, Texas (Oct. 15, 2022) – Austin Prock in the Montana Brand / Rocky Mountain Twist Chevrolet dragster earned his first career No. 1 qualifying position Saturday at the Texas NHRA FallNationals at Texas Motorplex. Robert Hight in his AAA Texas Chevy Camaro SS Funny Car will start form No. 2 while Brittany Force and the Monster Energy / Flav-R-Pac dragster settled into the No. 3 position and John Force with the PEAK Antifreeze and Coolant Chevy are No. 6.
Already sitting No. 1 after his 3.682-second pass at 334.57 mph from Friday night, Austin Prock and the Montana Brand Rocky Mountain Twist team followed up on Saturday with two solid runs. In the afternoon, Prock would handle the Montana Brand dragster to a 3.862-seconds and 334.57 mph before coming out in the final session to run 3.780 at 324.58.
“I wasn’t for sure we were going to keep the top spot. I know what Brittany and David Grubnic are capable of and they came swinging for us in that last session,” Prock said. “I’m glad to keep No. 1 spot, hopefully in translates to a good day on Sunday. We could use a good day, go some rounds. We’re off to a good start. We went down the track all four runs, the last time we did that was in Reading when we won. This team never quits. Everybody kept their head down and kept working for the same common goal of competing for wins. All the parts and pieces are here and when we make the right decisions, we’re right the. We have to keep making those smart decisions tomorrow and if I drive well, we’re going to turn on some win lights.”
Brittany Force and her Monster Energy team picked up a total of seven bonus points throughout qualifying, two from Friday and five from Saturday for being quickest and second quickest of each session. Force started the day with a 3.745-second pass at 333.11 mph before surprising everyone with a standout 3.698 pass at 335.07.
“Fourth race of the Countdown and we’re in a good position. We ended up qualifying number three with four clean, solid runs down the racetrack. That’s huge for this Monster Energy team. Looking at the ladder tomorrow, we’re feeling confident,” Force said. “We went testing in Indy a couple days ago and found an issue, but it looks like we solved it, so we’re looking for a long race day tomorrow. We need it to be long, we want to stay in the hunt for this championship and we’re chasing down that top spot.”
Robert Hight and the AAA Texas Chevy kept up their consistency Saturday afternoon laying down a 3.930-second pass at 331.35 mph that earned them a bonus point for being third quickest. In the final session, the Chevrolet Camaro Funny Car stayed on point with a 3.910-second pass at 325.78 mph. Hight is locked into the No. 2 spot to race Jack Wyatt in the first round.
“This AAA Texas Chevy team is consistent. We’re picking up some points but there’s more out there. Jimmy Prock and Chris Cunningham, they’ll find it, we’ll pick it up a bit and be good tomorrow,” Hight said. “I love racing here in Texas and I’m hoping we can put on a good show for the fans tomorrow. We’re in the points lead but we aren’t getting comfortable, we know there’s still a lot of work ahead of us and this AAA team is up to it.”
After a clutch malfunction Friday night, Force came into Saturday sitting in the No. 6 spot. He’d have a solid run in the PEAK Chevy in the third qualifying session going 3.912-seconds at 333.11 mph to be second quickest of the session and earn two bonus points. In their final qualifying try, the PEAK Chevy would stumble losing traction before Force had to shut it off. Force will start race day from the No. 6 position to face longtime rival Cruz Pedregon in the first round.
“Good qualifying for this PEAK Chevy. We would have been quicker the first run today, it shot a spark plug out,” said Force. “I just have to do my job as a driver on the starting line. This PEAK team, they’re learning and we’re fast. Tomorrow is where it’s really important for the championship and I’m still in it with this PEAK Chevrolet.”
Eliminations at the Texas NHRA FallNationals at the Texas Motorplex continues eliminations on Sunday at 11:00 a.m. Television coverage will be on FOX Sports 1 (FS1) Sunday starting with a qualifying show at 10:00 a.m. ET and eliminations at 10:30 p.m. ET.
