By Tony Veneziano

Seven races in nine nights at seven tracks in four states. That proposition can be an intimidating and daunting task to many. For reigning United Sprint Car Series (USCS) champion Jordon Mallett from Greenbrier, AR, it’s just the annual USCS Speedweek and he treats each race as an individual entity, not getting caught up in the hoopla of the number of races in a compacted time frame and the amount of travel involved.

Mallett will kick off the 2018 edition of USCS Speedweek on Friday, May 25, at Hattiesburg Speedway in Mississippi. The mini-tour then heads to Jackson Motor Speedway on Saturday, May 26, and Greenville Speedway on Sunday, May 27. Both of those venues are in Mississippi. 

Memorial Day will be spent at Lexington 104 Speedway in Tennessee. After a pair of days off to regroup, Speedweek cranks back up on Thursday, May 31, at Talladega Short Track in Alabama, followed by a visit back to Mississippi to Magnolia Motor Speedway on Friday, June 1. The seven-race swing wraps up at the historic Riverside International Speedway in West Memphis, AR, on Saturday, June 2.

“You prepare for it just like any other race,” Mallett said. “You double-check things extra well. I believe it’s more about getting mentally prepared. Some teams, it beats them down a lot. If you have your stuff done and ready at the shop the week before, and in the time leading up to all of those races, you can go to the track just like a normal race night and not have to worry about what needs to be done the next day, if you pre-plan for it all week.”

Another key that Mallett points out for being successful during Speedweek is to have a short memory, especially on the tough nights. Each night is a new battle and what happened in the previous race has little bearing on the task at hand. Though, a strong run can parlay into added confidence and some extra bounce in the step for the next night.

Photo courtesy of USCS

“I always pride myself on being really strong, mentally, and always having a positive mental attitude about everything,” he explained. “When you go into the next night, knowing that the night before that is irrelevant, it helps the whole program in general. You can’t let that stuff hang over your head from the night before, whether good or bad. You can kind of use momentum from the night before if you did well, but you definitely don’t want to use bad momentum going into the next night. You fight through it mentally, and once you figure that out, it really eases up the workload.”

For Mallett, who owns his team, Speedweek is truly a family affair. He has his dad as his crew chief, while his wife and mother will both be on the road, “keeping everyone fed,” as well as helping keep items clean and organized. Harkening back to Mallett’s mantra of treating Speedweek like any other week, there are just a few small tweaks in regard to parts and inventory for the seven-race span.

“Everything is pretty much like normal on the trailer,” Mallett said. “We have a spare engine and a spare car and all of the standard stuff we take with us week in and week out. The only exception is that you need to keep more fuel in the trailer and more engine oil and a few other disposables like that than you normally would. 

“Most of the time, we are set up to run four races in a row, without having to restock some of those odds and ends in terms of liquids and stuff like that. Speedweek is so many back-to-back races that you have to make sure you have enough of the small things that you often overlook. Parts are pretty readily accessible in the trailer at all times at any race. We normally have a pretty good grasp on that, so we don’t have to load anything more, because it’s already in place in the trailer.”

With the way the Speedweek schedule lays out this season, Mallett will be able to return home to his shop in Greenbrier, AR, following the fourth race on Monday, May 28, at Lexington 104 Speedway in Tennessee, as a two-day break awaits, followed by the remaining three shows. Along with helping the bottom line, by saving on expenses, the reigning USCS champion will also get to work out of his own shop for a few days and sleep in his own bed.

“When we leave the race track on Monday night, we’re only about 4 1/2 hours from home, so we’ll jet on back and get to spend two days at the house, then go the next race on Thursday night,” noted the 25-year-old. “That works really well for us. It’s nice to be able to work out of our own shop and get the cars cleaned up and get everything how we want it, here at our own shop. That really gives us an advantage, we feel like, versus when we go on some of those stretches on the East Coast or down in Florida and stay out for a couple or three weeks at a time.”

Consistency will be the key to being in contention for the Speedweek title at the end of the seven-race stretch. Mallett looks to use the experience and knowledge from last year’s edition of the mini-series this year. In 2017, he finished seventh or better in each of the five races that comprised the Speedweek schedule. Mallett was victorious in the finale, though that event was contested at a later date after rain postponed the originally scheduled race.

“You can go to each track and know what you need to do there and do that and execute it and you’ll be fine and consistent,” Mallett said. “What happened when I ran my first Speedweek, I got caught up in the, ‘Well, we were good last night, so let’s not change anything and try this race track the same as what we did last night.’ What ends up happening is that you may be really good one night and really bad the next night. The biggest thing to being consistent is to start with a clean slate each night and do your job at that track. You can’t let things get into your head, because that’s where you’ll make a mistake.”

Mallett heads into Speedway fresh off a pair of wins last weekend at Flomaton Speedway in Alabama and Southern Raceway in Florida. That brought his tally to three wins on the season, as he was also victorious at I-75 Speedway in Tennessee in April.

“It’s always good to come off a win or two wins,” he said. “We are able to take some things that we are learning about this car and we can apply that to our notebook and help us refine and fine-tune everything. We can then build off that speed. We have the ball rolling and know what this car wants, and hopefully, we can keep building off of that.”

Mallett, who is the current series point leader over longtime USCS kingpin Terry Gray, is taking a new approach this year: not looking at the point standings. He is entirely focused on winning races. With over 30 races remaining this season, he’ll have plenty of opportunities to add to his win total.

“If I am doing my job and go out and win, at the end of the year, then I did my part right and the points will take care of themselves,” Mallett said. “I have completely tuned out the points and I just go into each night with the attitude to win and if we don’t win, we try to figure out what did we do wrong. I’m not interested in thinking while running fourth that it will be a good points night. If I have a shot to win, I’m going to take it.”