PUEBLO, Colo. ― Shane Proctor watched all six rounds of the 2013 Built Ford Tough World Finals earlier this week, including his brother-in-law and 2013 World Champion J.B. Mauney’s historic 6-for-6 performance.

“That kind of performance inspires you and it’s what we all want to do,” Proctor said this week prior to the start of the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo. “I don’t even think anybody realizes how significant that was and the level he was riding at.”

Proctor will try to create his own memorable magic during this year’s NFR, which began last night at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas.

Proctor got things started off on the right foot Thursday by riding News Flash for 89 points to notch a first-round victory.

The 28-year-old’s round win pushes him to fifth in the PRCA bull riding standings with $94,488.65 earned. He currently trails leader J.W. Harris by $43,706.94.

Regardless, Proctor is certainly capable of claiming his second PRCA bull riding title with round wins being worth $18,629.81, and an overall event prize of $47,776.44 up for grabs.

“You can catch up real fast if you win rounds,” Proctor said. “That’s the thing about the NFR. The guy in 15^th place can legitimately catch the No. 1 guy if they have the wrong Finals. Everybody has a shot.”

Proctor enters the NFR coming off a strong finish at the PBR World Finals where he rode Pound the Alarm for 90 points during the championship round after scoring 85 points on Rock & Roll in the fifth round.

It was a good rebound for Proctor, following three straight buckoffs inside the Thomas & Mack Center after opening the Finals with an 81.25-point ride on Wedding Bells.    

His performance on Pound the Alarm was his first 90-point ride on the Built Ford Tough Series since he rode Jack Daniel’s After Party for 90.75 points in January to win the event in Winston-Salem, N.C.

It was Proctor’s first BFTS event of the year – he was invited as an alternate – and he had to battle his way back to the PBR’s toughest circuit after failing to qualify for the 2012 World Finals by one spot.

Missing out on the Finals was an eye-opening experience.

“I made the NFR, but I missed the PBR Finals by one hole and I didn’t ever want to do that again,” Proctor said. “I never wanted to miss it again. I don’t like watching bull riding anywhere, so that just kind of lit a fire.

“That is a humbling experience, but it’s also an experience that makes you really want it.”

Proctor – healthy for the first time since suffering a gruesome broken arm on his last bull at the 2011 NFR that forced him to miss the first nine events of the 2012 BFTS – returned with vengeance and was in the Top 10 of the world standings for most of the first half, while also picking up an event win in Anaheim, Calif.

The Grand Coulee, Wash., native said that competing on the Built Ford Tough Series makes him a strong contender at the NFR because of the continuous amount of rank bulls he climbs aboard week in and week out.

This year alone, he has attempted Bushwacker, Mick E Mouse, Sweet Thang, Meat Hook, among other top bulls in the world.   

“The bulls that are here are going to be good bulls, but I am not scared of any of them,” Proctor said. “It’s a pen I am very familiar with. My comfort level right now is really high, because coming straight off the PBR, I know I can ride any bull here. I have been on a lot ranker.”

Along with event wins (2) in a season, the 5-foot-8 rider also had a career-high six Top-5 finishes to place ninth in the PBR world standings at the conclusion of 2013 BFTS.

VIDEO: Shane Proctor rides Jack Daniel's After Party for 90.75 points

Proctor said he feels very similar to when he won his first PRCA world title in 2011, the same year he finished ninth in the PBR world standings.

“This year was a lot like that year,” Proctor said. “It just seems like everything when you needed it to happen was going your way and that’s what happened this year.”

He had to hustle his way across the country to a variety of rodeos during the BFTS summer break to try and earn enough money to qualify for the NFR as a Top 15 bull rider. Proctor’s choice to hit the rodeo trail instead of Touring Pro Division events, which could have helped his chances at chasing a PBR world title, generated some criticism.

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However, Proctor says he has no regrets.

“If I hadn’t of made it (to the NFR), this summer would have been useless,” Proctor said. “I had full confidence in my decision. I also had had full confidence that I would be able to make up the gap that was created between us (Silvano Alves) over the summer break. I didn’t quite do that, but, I mean, I feel good about what’s going to happen in Vegas this year. I feel really well about it.”

It’s also a matter of pride for him.

“There have only been three guys in the last 10 years who’ve gone to both the PBR Finals and the NFR in the same year, and that is something I take a lot of pride in,” Proctor added.

Proctor got on some practice bulls last week at Gary Blythe’s North Carolina ranch and said he hopes to ride at least eight bulls, if not all 10, during the NFR this year, after riding four in 2012, and a career-best five in 2011. His ultimate goal is to one day win the PBR world title and the PRCA title in the same season, but for the next nine days, he will be focused on winning a second PRCA title.

“It’s what everybody is striving for,” Proctor concluded. “Out of my hotel room I can see the Thomas & Mack. That is my second home and that’s where I crave to be. If it happens it happens. If it doesn’t it doesn’t.

“But it would be something amazing.”

Follow Justin Felisko on Twitter @jfelisko