Toni Breidinger is preparing to take the next step in her racing career, making a jump into the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series full-time in 2025. The native of San Francisco, California will drive the No. 5 Toyota Tundra TRD Pro for TRICON Garage.
It’s a substantial undertaking for the 25-year-old driver, who has spent the last four seasons competing in the ARCA Menards Series.
“I’ve learned a lot in the ARCA [Menards] Series,” Breidinger said in a media availability. “I would not be making the step to the Truck Series without that kind of stepping stone with the ARCA Series. We compete on a lot of similar tracks that we’ll go to in the Truck Series, so at least I’m going to be familiar with some of the tracks on the schedule.”
In 65 ARCA starts, Breidinger has recorded four finishes inside the top five, the best of which was a third-place result at Kansas Speedway in the Fall of 2023. Her 27 top 10s are the most by a woman in the developmental series.
While putting in the time to further develop her racecraft, Breidinger was also building her brand, through social media, which has paid dividends in a major way.
Last August, social media analytics firm Zoomph ranked Breidinger as the leader in engagement and social value amongst NASCAR-related personalities. Almost a year later, Breidinger has amassed more than 2.6 million followers on Instagram.
That illustrious social value has allowed her to attract partnerships with major brands such as Raising Cane’s, CELSIUS, and Sunoco, among others. It’s also landed her modeling gigs for GAP, Victoria’s Secret, and most recently, Sports Illustrated’s Swimsuit issue.
With a following of that magnitude, and simply just by being a woman in a sport dominated by men, the naysayers do exist, and at times can get quite loud. That doesn’t seem to faze Breidinger, though.
“Definitely been making the haters a little mad lately, that’s for sure,” Breidinger said in a media availability. “All good stuff on my end, everyone in my inner circle is really excited and happy for me. This is kind of a new chapter for me, so obviously easier said than done to ignore the haters, but everyone in my inner circle, my teams, Toyota, and all my partners, they’re really excited, they’re really happy for me and that’s what counts at the end of the day.”
In the last two years, Breidinger has begun dipping her toes into the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, making four starts with TRICON Garage, and scoring a best finish of 15th on debut at Kansas in 2023 – the best debut finish by a female driver in any of NASCAR’s National Series.
With her limited experience in the Truck Series, Breidinger is destined to have a significant learning curve ahead, as she tackles not only a new vehicle but also the heightened level of competition that the series has to offer.
“I feel super confident, but yeah, I think no matter what it’s going to be a huge learning curve,” said Breidinger. “We don’t get much practice when we get to the track, so I think I just have to be ready to adapt and just get after it. I feel like I tend to overthink and prepare and plan, and I feel like I almost have to go with the flow and just be super present in what I’m doing and yeah, just get after it and drive.”
As the season progresses, Breidinger will have a couple of teammates to lean on who have gathered a wealth of knowledge and experience in the NASCAR Truck Series, Corey Heim and Tanner Gray.
“I’ll definitely be bugging Corey [Heim] and Tanner [Gray], my two TRICON teammates, a lot,” Breidinger said. “Clearly, they have a lot of experience in the Truck Series. So I will definitely be bugging them a good bit, but they’ve always been super cool to answer all my questions – even the more stupid ones.”
One of the bigger challenges to overcome with the jump from the ARCA Menards Series to the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series is the level of aggression. Especially when racing in the middle of the pack, the aggression level from the Truck Series drivers is usually through the roof and leads to lots of problems.
“I think especially as a rookie and sometimes as a female, people think they could push you around a little bit more […], but I think there is a time and place to be aggressive and certain drivers to do it with,” Breidinger said. “I kind of respect when people are aggressive to me, to an extent, like if you’re going to dump me, then that’s a different situation, but like, racing some veterans hard and them racing me hard, I feel like I can learn a lot from that.”
“So, time and place for it, I mean I don’t want anybody to go out there and dump me, but I think if they’re racing me hard, I want to learn that and I want to experience that because I am not going to learn if I don’t experience that firsthand in some ways. So, fine line, I guess.”
Breidinger will begin her first full-time season and Rookie of The Year bid in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series at Daytona International Speedway on Friday, February 14, 2025.
