Austin Prock applied an exclamation point to his team’s domination of the regular season Monday, driving the Cornwell Quality Tools Chevrolet Camaro SS past the two-time defending champion Ron Capps in the final round of 70th annual NHRA U.S. Nationals at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park.

At the wheel of a John Force Racing Chevy prepared by his dad with input from his brother, and with his grandfather watching, the 29-year-old Funny Car rookie went wire-to-wire in drag racing’s biggest single event.

Just for good measure, he serviced the supercharger on the Cornwell Camaro between rounds, one of the jobs he handled at JFR before he got his chance to drive a Funny Car like his grandad, Tom Prock, who lost to Don Prudhomme in the Funny Car semifinals of the 1977 Nationals.

“I had a feeling we were going to get it done,” Prock said. “My grandfather is here. This is the first race he’s been to since I (started driving) this Funny Car with his number on the side of if (#374). He started this legacy and today we marked another one off the list as a family.

“That’s unbelievable to win the U.S. Nationals with your dad tuning it (and) your brother the assistant crew chief. This whole Cornwell Tools Chevy team, they are just badasses,” he said. “I was chopping down the tree all weekend and I just wanted to make sure everyone knew I was back.”

Indeed, after losing in his last start with an uncharacteristic .118 starting line reaction time, Prock was .063, .057, .060 and .055 on Monday on the way to winning for the fifth time in 14 regular season events in the Mission Foods Series.

The car’s consistency famously matched that of the driver. After qualifying low at 3.855, the blue and black Chevy stopped the timers Monday in 3.850, 3.879, 3.887 and 3.885 seconds. The only real scare came in the second round when Alexis DeJoria laid down at 3.876. Prock made that slightly quicker time a loser, though, with an .027 of a second edge at the starting line.

“It still hasn’t hit me yet that we won the U.S. Nationals,” gushed the former quarter midget and sprint car driver. “So many people dream of winning this race and very few have. I’m very proud to add my name to that list with my dad and brother Thomas turning the knobs along with Nate Hildahl. Yeah, it’s a pretty surreal moment.”

In Top Fuel, Clay Millican was also a first-time winner at the prestigious U.S. Nationals, defeating four-time world champion Steve Torrence in the final round with a run of 3.792 at 327.82 in his 11,000-horsepower Arby’s/Parts Plus dragster. Millican struggled in qualifying, entering raceday in the No. 13 spot, but made major improvements when it counted, including a 3.695 at 333.74 to defeat Antron Brown in the first round.

He followed with round wins against Josh Hart and Brittany Force to reach the final round, driving past Torrence with his third straight run in the 3.70s to reach Indy glory. It’s Millican’s first victory of the season and the seventh in his career, and the veteran will move to sixth in points to start the Countdown to the Championship. For now, though, Millican is only thinking about his incredible Monday on drag racing’s biggest stage.

“I’ve definitely been the underdog my entire life. I promise you that, but I have a lot of fight in me,” Millican said. “Nothing will ever top [my first win in] Bristol, including the U.S. Nationals, but this is like winning the Super Bowl, the Daytona 500, the World Series. This is career-defining stuff.

“To win with [team owner] Rick Ware here was cool. I won three times last year and he wasn’t at any of them. He came on Friday, he has two NASCAR teams racing in Darlington, but he was here. It was cool to call him last year and say we won, but there is nothing like being here.”

Torrence advanced to his second final round of the year and 89th in his career on the strength of round wins against Billy Torrence, Ida Zetterstrom and Tony Stewart. Doug Kalitta, who didn’t qualify at the U.S. Nationals, will open the playoffs as the points leader, with Justin Ashley in second.

Aaron Stanfield made history by becoming the first driver in NHRA history to win two events in one weekend at the U.S. Nationals, following up his victory in Holley EFI Factory X on Monday with a win in Pro Stock, knocking off teammate Jeg Coughlin Jr. in the final round with a pass of 6.561 at 209.36 in his Johnson’s Horsepowered Garage/Melling Performance/Janac Brothers car.

The win is Stanfield’s fourth Pro Stock victory of 2024 and this will certainly be the highlight after his historic double-up.

To reach the championship round, Stanfield knocked off Matt Hartford, Cory Reed and No. 1 qualifier Greg Anderson, holding off Coughlin in the final round to pick up his first Pro Stock victory at the world’s biggest drag race. It’s also the 12th career victory for Stanfield, who enters the Countdown to the Championship second in points and with plenty of momentum as he seeks his first world championship coming off his incredible weekend at The Big Go.

“I've been close [to doubling] a couple of times, so I'm okay with the past races not to get it done, because this is the place to do it,” Stanfield said. “There's so much history at this racetrack, and it's special to me to not only win Indy Pro Stock and Factory X both in the same day and put my name down on the history books.

“Indy's always a busy week for me. It's a roller coaster of emotions the whole entire time, and I knew I had two good hot rods, and I knew I had a good chance to win, but this race has kicked my butt in the past, and it just feels great.”

Coughlin advanced to the finals for the fourth time this season and 119th time in his standout career, defeating Eric Latino, Troy Coughlin Jr. and Erica Enders in the process. Dallas Glenn will take the points leader into the postseason.

Winning the U.S. Nationals was the only thing Gaige Herrera didn’t accomplish last year, but the reigning Pro Stock Motorcycle champ took care of business on Monday this year, posting a perfect .000 reaction time and then going 6.763 at 198.70 on his RevZilla/Mission Foods/Vance & Hines Suzuki to defeat Angie Smith and enter Indy immortality. After not winning the past two races, Herrera, the dominant points leader, captured the biggest victory of the year – his seventh of the 2024 campaign.

To advance to the final round, Herrera, who qualified No. 1, dipped into the 6.70s in three rounds, including a weekend-best 6.722 at 199.35 in the opening round. He followed with a 6.755 against Chase Van Sant and then knocked off teammate Richard Gadson. After a perfect reaction time against Smith, Herrera rolled to the victory, which certainly ranks among the top of his 18 career wins.

“This race is very special for me. Two years ago, I made my debut here. Two years ago, Andrew Hines had COVID sitting on his couch and didn't even know my name until I made my first pass here,” Herrera said. “This one is very special. For me to be able to get this win, I feel like this was the biggest monkey of all on my back. Last year, I had the simplest part fail, which cost me going past second round. To get the win here, even though I won the championship last year, I feel like this almost surpasses that.

“This ranks at the top, all the stuff that I've done as far as creating history or beating Bob Glidden's record – throughout my years, I'm probably going to remember this over all of that. This is one everyone wants to win. It's the Super Bowl of drag racing. To get this win, I feel like I've kind of accomplished what I wanted in Pro Stock Motorcycle. It's crazy to say that a year and a half into my Pro Stock Motorcycle career, but I'm not stopping yet.”

Smith reached the final round for the first time this season and the eighth time in her career thanks to round wins against Steve Johnson, Marc Ingwersen and her husband, Matt. Herrera will be the points leader heading into the playoffs, with Smith in second.

The NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series returns to action Sept. 12-15 with the 39th annual Pep Boys NHRA Nationals at Maple Grove Raceway in Reading, Pa. It is the first of six races in the Countdown to the Championship playoffs.

Indy Monday Results Summary

TOP FUEL: 1. Clay Millican; 2. Steve Torrence; 3. Brittany Force; 4. Tony Stewart; 5. Tony Schumacher; 6. Ida Zetterstrom; 7. Josh Hart; 8. Justin Ashley; 9. Shawn Reed; 10. Shawn Langdon; 11. Doug Foley; 12. Dan Mercier; 13. Antron Brown; 14. Tripp Tatum; 15. T.J. Zizzo; 16. Billy Torrence.

FUNNY CAR: 1. Austin Prock; 2. Ron Capps; 3. Jack Beckman; 4. Blake Alexander; 5. Alexis DeJoria; 6. Cruz Pedregon; 7. Buddy Hull; 8. Bobby Bode; 9. Paul Lee; 10. Dale Creasy Jr.; 11. Bob Tasca III; 12. Matt Hagan; 13. Daniel Wilkerson; 14. J.R. Todd; 15. Chris King; 16. Chad Green.

PRO STOCK: 1. Aaron Stanfield; 2. Jeg Coughlin; 3. Erica Enders; 4. Greg Anderson; 5. Cristian Cuadra; 6. Troy Coughlin Jr.; 7. David Cuadra; 8. Cory Reed; 9. Matt Hartford; 10. Jerry Tucker; 11. Dallas Glenn; 12. Fernando Cuadra Jr.; 13. Camrie Caruso; 14. Sienna Wildgust; 15. Mason McGaha; 16. Eric Latino.

PRO STOCK MOTORCYCLE: 1. Gaige Herrera; 2. Angie Smith; 3. Matt Smith; 4. Richard Gadson; 5. Chase Van Sant; 6. Hector Arana Jr; 7. Jianna Evaristo; 8. Marc Ingwersen; 9. Geno Scali; 10. Chris Bostick; 11. Kelly Clontz; 12. Ron Tornow; 13. Steve Johnson; 14. Ryan Oehler; 15. Wesley Wells; 16. John Hall.

Indy Full Monday Results

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TOP FUEL
 ***************************

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed

   51 Clay Millican                           2 Steve Torrence               
E4   ****WINNER****  0.082  3.792 327.82                     0.070  4.317 192.30

 Prior rounds:
E3    (B Force     ) 0.070  3.750 332.18      (T Stewart   ) 0.068  3.769 331.12
E2    (J Hart      ) 0.072  3.753 332.18      (I Zetterstro) 0.117  3.742 332.18
E1    (A Brown     ) 0.058  3.695 333.74      (B Torrence  ) 0.077  3.702 329.67
 Qualified:            #13  3.774 331.12                        #6  3.736 332.84




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FUNNY CAR
***************************


  374 Austin Prock                            4 Ron Capps                    
E4   ****WINNER****  0.055  3.885 327.98                     0.083  3.935 331.45

 Prior rounds:
E3    (B Alexander ) 0.060  3.887 332.34      (J Beckman   ) 0.070  4.315 252.52
E2    (A DeJoria   ) 0.057  3.879 331.61      (B Hull      ) 0.059  3.943 327.51
E1    (C King      ) 0.063  3.850 334.15      (J Todd      ) 0.050  3.946 333.33
 Qualified:             #1  3.855 328.38                        #7  3.901 313.37



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PRO STOCK
***************************


   25 Jeg Coughlin                            4 Aaron Stanfield              
E4                   0.044  6.562 209.59     ****WINNER****  0.017  6.561 209.36

 Prior rounds:
E3    (E Enders    ) 0.025  6.580 209.10      (G Anderson  ) 0.037  6.574 209.62
E2    (T Coughlin J) 0.020  6.576 208.75      (C Reed      ) 0.031  6.555 210.14
E1    (E Latino    ) 0.013  6.557 208.88      (M Hartford  ) 0.024  6.560 209.36
 Qualified:             #3  6.598 207.50                        #4  6.598 206.70



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PRO STOCK MOTORCYCLE
***************************


    8 Angie Smith                             1 Gaige Herrera                
E4                   0.038  6.829 197.19     ****WINNER****  0.000  6.763 198.70
 Prior rounds:
E3    (M Smith     ) 0.031  6.820 199.17      (R Gadson    ) 0.022  6.804 197.91
E2    (M Ingwersen ) 0.061  6.834 198.76      (C Van Sant  ) 0.029  6.755 199.58
E1    (S Johnson   ) 0.076  6.826 198.88      (W Wells     ) 0.087  6.772 199.35
 Qualified:             #6  6.859 197.94                        #1  6.809 197.71

w/ NHRA Communications and John Force Racing