Jordon Mallett is making his first trip to Knoxville Raceway since August 2020 this week to tackle the 33 rd annual Xtream Powered by Mediacom 360 Knoxville Nationals presented by Great Southern Bank.
Mallett’s preliminary night at the half-mile oval in Knoxville, Iowa, is Friday before the event finale is Saturday.
“I have good expectations,” he said. “We’ve been making gains on our program. As far as for places like that I have solid expectations, but I also know that’s one of the toughest races of the year and the locals are tough. Just to get it in the show is a big enough deal to try to accomplish. We’ll see what cards we’re dealt. We haven’t been dealt good cards in the past as far as qualifying position. If those line up I feel we’ll be all right.”
Mallett has limited laps at the famed oval, where he battled problems throughout his most recent visit when he won the C Main and placed 18 th in the B Main during preliminary action. He capped the event with a 14th-place finish in the D Main.
“There’s so many good cars there,” he said. “The stars have to be lined up the moment you pull your pill for qualifying position because that sets you up for the rest of the weekend. You can’t have any hiccups. In 2020, we had a decent qualifying position and we rolled out there and a spark box died on us, which resulted in us going back to the pits. We had to time in last with only one lap at the end. The year previous we drew the last qualifying pill. Everything has to go your way from the get-go at a show like that. Hopefully things can go in the right direction because any time anything goes wrong it takes a lot to overcome that.”
The 2020 outing was a career best at the 360 Knoxville Nationals. Mallett finished 16 th in the D Main during his debut in 2019.
SEASON STATS –
28 races, 0 wins, 8 top fives, 19 top 10s, 22 top 15s, 24 top 20s
UP NEXT –
Friday and Saturday at Knoxville Raceway in Knoxville, Iowa, for the 33 rd annual Xtream Powered by Mediacom 360 Knoxville Nationals presented by Great Southern Bank with the ASCS National Tour
Inside Line Promotions PR
