Meet the one lady racing full-time in NASCAR this season

ROCKINGHAM, N.C. — Alongside pit highway about 14 minutes earlier than the race begins, Toni Breidinger is leaning towards her pink No. 5 Toyota truck, partially protecting up the Elevating Cane’s emblem emblazoned on the aspect. She picks up an ice chilly can of Celsius off the truck mattress and presses it towards her face, embracing the refreshing feeling because the solar beats down on the blacktop on this Friday afternoon. Breidinger does this a number of instances within the moments main as much as the beginning of the Black’s Tire 200, the primary NASCAR race held at Rockingham Speedway in 12 years.

“The Rock” — a 1.017-mile oval monitor in North Carolina’s Richmond County — refused to die. The long-lasting speedway, the place racers and followers gathered in 2001 every week after the tragic dying of the legendary Dale Earnhardt, was largely deserted by NASCAR in 2004 after it grew to become considerably of a bargaining chip in a lawsuit and after the game went trying to find new venues and audiences out west and up north. Like North Wilkesboro earlier than it, Rockingham grew to become a casualty of growth. Twenty years later, throughout a time during which NASCAR is reaching again to its roots, Rockingham is seeing high-level racing once more after it was taken into succesful palms and obtained a jolt of funding for renovations from the American Rescue Plan Act.

Breidinger is just too younger to recollect the final time the Cup Sequence raced right here, when Matt Kenseth received in 2004. And when Kyle Larson received right here in 2013 — the final time the Truck Sequence ran at Rockingham — all that Breidinger knew about NASCAR, she says, is that Kyle Busch drove the automobile with M&M’s on it. Again in these days, Breidinger was rather more all for open-wheel racing, like IndyCar.

This previous weekend although, because the Craftsman Truck Sequence and Xfinity Sequence descended on Rockingham, Breidinger was one of many largest stars there.

Within the moments main as much as the Truck Sequence race on Friday, the 25-year-old — who’s the one lady racing full-time in NASCAR’s three highest ranges this season — fortunately obliged the numerous followers who approached her for pictures. It was all kinds of individuals searching for selfies along with her, together with moms and little women, and middle-aged dudes sporting Earnhardt shirts.

Between Instagram, TikTok and X, Breidinger has about 5 million followers — or double the mixed social media followings of the three most up-to-date Cup Sequence champions: Joey Logano, Ryan Blaney and Kyle Larson.

She’s the lone lady within the subject for this Truck Sequence race, as would be the case many instances this season. Breidinger can be the primary Arab-American lady to compete in NASCAR.

Merely put, Breidinger is doing issues in NASCAR that no different one who appears like her has completed earlier than, and she or he’s bringing a giant viewers alongside along with her for the journey.

“To me, I’m simply doing my factor that I’ve been doing for therefore a few years. I’m simply chasing my goals and being a racecar driver. I didn’t understand I used to be doing one thing totally different,” Breidinger advised SB Nation. “Then I began to go searching. So, yeah, I suppose I type of do see myself as a trailblazer and I take extra satisfaction in it now. I really feel like I’m somewhat bit extra self-aware of it.”

Between these footage, she takes sips of water and snaps on ankle braces. She reaches for that may of Celsius once more — Breidinger says the Mango Lemonade taste is her favourite — and holds it towards her cheek, having fun with the cool it brings earlier than zipping up her hearth go well with, pulling on her helmet, and climbing right into a scorching truck the place she’ll attain speeds upwards of 160 miles per hour. As Breidinger snaps her steering wheel into place, one member of her pit crew fastens the online throughout her window, whereas one other removes that half-empty Celsius can from her truck mattress.

She’s on their lonesome now and completely in management. After which — for the primary time in additional than a decade at this cathedral of racing — the decision comes from the loudspeakers: “Drivers, begin your engines!”

Toni Breidinger stands subsequent to her No. 5 Elevating Cane’s Toyota on Friday, April 18, at Rockingham Speedway earlier than the Craftsman Truck Sequence race.

Mitchell Northam / SB Nation

For all of its historical past, nearly all of drivers in any given NASCAR race have largely match the identical profile: male, straight and white. Lately, NASCAR even modified the title of its 21-year-old “Drive for Variety” program to “Driver Improvement.” It produced the likes of Larson, Bubba Wallace, Truck Sequence driver Rajah Caruth, and Breidinger.

“I feel should you look again to love 20 years in the past, there’s a nice enchancment in variety on this sport. However then additionally, the truth that I’m the one feminine racing full-time — I imply, to me, that’s not any enchancment,” Breidinger says. “There’s nonetheless not sufficient being completed.”

Whereas there may be work wanted to enhance the make-up of NASCAR, Breidinger getting thus far in her profession is an efficient signal for individuals who appear like her that purpose to comply with in her footsteps. Nonetheless, her path to turning into a full-time Truck Sequence driver with Tricon Storage was an unorthodox one and might not be duplicable.

Breidinger grew up in California’s Bay Space in a city south of San Francisco known as Hillsborough. She is the daughter of a Lebanese mom and a German father. Nada Yanni was a preschool instructor whereas Charles labored in building.

When Breidinger was about 9-years-old, her father noticed an commercial for a go-kart monitor and thought it will be a enjoyable exercise to take Toni and her twin sister Annie to. As much as that time in her childhood, Breidinger had tried all the things to discover a ardour for one thing, or just a passion that she actually liked. She took classes in piano and karate. She joined groups for soccer and gymnastics. Nothing caught. However when she settled into the seat of an open-air go-kart, all the things modified.

“I used to be similar to, yeah, I need to do that once more,” Breidinger remembers.

And once more, and once more, and once more, and once more.

Toni Breidinger drives the No. 5 Elevating Cane’s Toyota within the Black’s Tire 200 on Friday, April 18, 2025, at Rockingham Speedway.

Mitchell Northam / SB Nation

Breidinger embraced the sensation of going quick and cherished the power to be in full management.

She started driving go-karts competitively and wasn’t deterred on the age of 12 when she obtained right into a wild accident. Racing in what Breidinger remembers as “principally a giant parking zone” in Fontana, California, she was heading right into a flip when the left rear of her automobile made contact with the best entrance of one other driver. The collision flipped Breidinger’s automobile, throwing her out of the kart and onto the arduous pavement. Remarkably, she walked away with only a damaged arm and her confidence totally intact. It’s the primary and — knock on wooden — the final severe harm she’s suffered whereas racing.

“It was fairly loopy, however I wasn’t scared or something. I used to be very decided to get again within the go-kart. I don’t assume it fazed me,” Breidinger says. “If I’m wrecking, I’m by no means scared for myself. It’s extra of like, ‘Oh gosh, how unhealthy is harm on the truck?’”

Her mom chimes in, recalling the decade-old incident: “The following day she needed to race.”

On the age of 15, Breidinger noticed her first NASCAR race, when Carl Edwards received on the Sonoma highway course. Later, she noticed a Truck Sequence race in Iowa. It was round this time when she started to like stock-car racing.

After Breidinger graduated from highschool, she didn’t pursue school like her sister Annie, who graduated from Purdue College with a level in engineering and has since labored for Tesla, Common Motors, Apple and Ford.

There are particular professions the place, to provide oneself one of the best probability of attaining profession objectives, folks typically relocate to the center of no matter trade that’s. Budding actors go to Los Angeles. Tech bros go to Silicon Valley. People with goals of turning into nation music singers transfer to Nashville. The highest school soccer gamers typically discover their NFL launching pads within the SEC or Large Ten. And if you wish to be a NASCAR driver, you find yourself in North Carolina.

So, that’s what Breidinger did on the age of 17, taking on residency in Mooresville — a small city simply exterior of Charlotte broadly referred to as “Race Metropolis, USA.” It’s house to numerous drivers and dozens of garages and producers.

“I needed to place all my eggs in a single basket with racing,” Breidinger says.

Toni Breidinger stands subsequent to her No. 5 Elevating Cane’s Toyota on Friday, April 18, at Rockingham Speedway earlier than the Craftsman Truck Sequence race.

Mitchell Northam / SB Nation

In 2018, she made her debut within the ARCA Menards Sequence — considered by many as a minor league or feeder system for NASCAR — and positioned tenth in her first ARCA race at Toledo. She ultimately grew to become a full-time ARCA driver with Venturini Motorsports, ending sixth within the standings in 2022, ninth in 2023 and fourth in 2024, the latter of which made her the highest-performing lady driver in ARCA historical past.

Throughout her rise in ARCA, Breidinger began working with a psychological well being coach to calm her nervousness and overthinking. She felt like she hadn’t been acting at her greatest behind the wheel and sought assist.

“The primary factor that we labored on was simply being current,” she says. “I really feel like I by no means executed something nicely as a result of I used to be all the time actually worrying in regards to the subsequent factor.”

When the Coronary heart of America 200 started on Could 6, 2023, at Kansas Speedway, Breidinger caught herself doing one thing she had by no means completed earlier than in a racecar. Behind her helmet, she was smiling. She was firmly within the second, and having fun with each second of her first Truck Sequence race. She positioned fifteenth, which nonetheless stands as her greatest end within the collection. It additionally put Breidinger into the historical past books as one of the best debut for a lady driver within the third-tier NASCAR collection.

After her success in ARCA and few strong showings in one-off truck races, Breidinger signed a contract with Toyota’s advertising and marketing division and joined Tricon Storage as a full-time driver for this Truck Sequence season.

“It’s very particular. It’s one thing that I’ve dreamed of,” Breidinger mentioned of getting a full-time NASCAR gig. “I believed I used to be able to make that step, that I used to be getting too snug within the ARCA collection, like I used to be virtually getting complacent. I needed to push myself. I like these sink or swim moments.”

Toni Breidinger stands subsequent to her No. 5 Elevating Cane’s Toyota on Friday, April 18, at Rockingham Speedway earlier than the Craftsman Truck Sequence race.

Mitchell Northam / SB Nation

Breidinger had aspirations of being a mannequin when she was youthful and nonetheless lived in California, however put these goals apart when she moved to North Carolina to pursue racing full-time. She thought she was too brief to be a mannequin anyway, and didn’t actually know the right way to break into the enterprise. However as she discovered success as a driver — and as her social media profiles ballooned — modeling alternatives got here her manner.

Her newest enterprise into this different aspect of her profession is showing in Sports activities Illustrated’s Swimsuit version, which comes out subsequent month. Pattern images on S.I.’s web site present Breidinger in an emerald inexperienced bikini on a seaside in Boca Raton, Florida. She’s the primary energetic NASCAR driver to seem in it.

Maybe much more than being highlighted within the iconic journal, Breidinger was thrilled in regards to the concept of being in the identical publication as different stars in girls’s sports activities. She’s a giant fan of Los Angeles Sparks’ heart Cameron Brink, who can be featured on this 12 months’s version. Golfer Nelly Korda and gymnasts Suni Lee and Jordan Chiles are in it too.

“Once I noticed the lineup of all the women doing it, I used to be like, ‘That is insane.’ Simply all these superb feminine athletes that I look as much as,” Breidinger says. “To be amongst them was very particular and an honor, and type of virtually like an imposter syndrome second. The expertise was superb.”

However don’t get it twisted about Breidinger. She’s a racecar driver who additionally fashions — not the opposite manner round.

“It’s humorous, as a result of folks don’t see it like this,” she says. “They assume that I’m like a mannequin who drives, however I’ve been racing since I used to be 9.”

Nonetheless, Breidinger factors out, her modeling gigs have been the gas-in-the-tank for her motorsports profession. The 2 go hand-in-hand. She’s in a position to be in Sports activities Illustrated’s Swimsuit journal as a result of she competes in NASCAR, and she or he’s in a position to drive in one of many highest ranges of stock-car racing as a result of her modeling has attracted traders, like Elevating Cane’s, Sunoco and Celsius. Breidinger doesn’t shrink back from the function that modeling and social media have performed in powering her racing aspirations.

“I wouldn’t be racing if it wasn’t for modeling. Like, fairly truthfully, I wouldn’t have the funds to go do it,” Breidinger says. “I feel that’s an necessary a part of how I’m even in a position to race. I wouldn’t be right here with out it. So I’m all the time grateful for these alternatives. It’s tough to steadiness typically, however it’s both that or I don’t race.”

Toni Breidinger’s No. 5 Elevating Cane’s Toyota recieved some harm early on within the Craftsman Truck Sequence race on Friday, April 18, at Rockingham Speedway.

Mitchell Northam / SB Nation

Like a basketball or soccer participant would possibly do earlier than a sport to check an opponent’s tendencies, a part of Breidinger’s preparation for races is to observe movie. Forward of this one in Rockingham, she examined the 2013 Truck Sequence race carefully.

“I’ve gotten much more into it, and I’m lots greater on note-taking. Once I was youthful, I watched races on a regular basis, however now I watch them with a special lens,” Breidinger says. “Why are they driving the way in which they’re? The place are they trending? I really feel like I’m analyzing it otherwise.”

Getting into this race, Breidinger remains to be looking for her footing as a full-time driver within the Truck Sequence. The most effective she’s completed this season in six earlier races was twenty first. And whereas she says that her five-year plan ends along with her turning into a full-time driver within the Cup Sequence — and realizing that solely wins and constantly nice finishes will get her there — she’s making an attempt to set modest objectives for herself too.

“I’ve totally different ranges of success. There’s the outcomes stage, like, everyone desires to win. But additionally, you possibly can’t all the time management outcomes. So, I’m additionally taking a look at, am I bettering? Did I enhance this week? Did I be taught? If I can obtain that, then it’s successful,” Breidinger says. “I really feel like I’ve actually grown and developed, which was the purpose of going into this.”

On the second lap of Friday’s race, the warning flag flies out after a number of vehicles obtain contact. The No. 5 Elevating Cane’s Toyota has some harm above the entrance driver’s aspect tire, so Breidinger has to make an early cease on pit highway. The automobile will get patched up and she or he receives a brand new set of tires earlier than being despatched again on her manner.

Because the race enters its ultimate 20 laps, Breidinger’s mom stands nervously a number of ft behind her pit highway field. She’s form of pacing in place, turning, shifting her weight from one foot to the opposite, taking a step to her aspect and step again, taking her glasses off and placing them again on, all whereas holding her cellphone in her hand which shows a stay leaderboard. She swipes down, refreshing it as soon as extra.

Toni Breidinger’s mom appears at a web-based leaderboard on Friday, April 18, at Rockingham Speedway in the course of the Craftsman Truck Sequence race.

Mitchell Northam / SB Nation

With two laps to go, Breidinger climbed to 18th after falling again so far as twenty eighth following that early pit cease. She’ll end there, marking her first prime 20 end of the season.

“A child step,” her mom says. “She did superb. It’s a troublesome monitor.”

Certainly, Breidinger’s greatest end of the season to date was a small victory on a tough day at Rockingham.

“That truthfully felt like, by far, the toughest race of the season,” Breidinger mentioned after hopping out of her truck. “I began to get the grasp of it… I’m completely happy I improved repeatedly all through the run.”

Breidinger has 18 extra races this season. She’s particularly excited in regards to the alternative to compete at North Wilkesboro and Pocono. Ultimately, she desires to get to the place no lady has gone earlier than within the three highest ranges of NASCAR: victory lane.

If she will get there, she hopes it is going to symbolize a second of empowerment and be a spark for different girls to chase their racecar-driving goals.

“I do really feel like there’s a accountability that I’ve to assist pave the trail for different girls within the sport. I’m the one feminine competing full-time, and it shouldn’t be like that,” Breidinger says. “There have been different females that competed full-time previous to me — they hit this glass ceiling, it looks as if.”

And Breidinger is making an attempt to shatter it.