Jenny Austin & Jack Gillen
Toni Breidinger companions with 818 TequilaToni Breidinger tells PEOPLE solely concerning the street she took to turn out to be knowledgeable racing driver, a ardour she pursued since she was 17 years outdated.The athlete triples as a mannequin and influencer, who makes use of her social media platform to achieve numerous audiences and encourage her million-plus followers to create paths of their very own identical to her.Breidinger discusses her new partnership with Kendall Jenner’s 818 Tequila as its first-ever sports activities companion, and explains why the collaboration with the alcohol model was a pure match.
Trailblazing? Toni Breidinger is full velocity forward.
The skilled racing driver opened as much as PEOPLE solely about making a path of her personal within the male-dominated motorsports business, a full-throttle endeavor she’s pursued since age 17.
Right now, Breidinger, 25, is constant to interrupt boundaries and redefine stereotypes each on and off the monitor.
“Racing could be very male-dominated, so it is exhausting for females to maneuver up via the ranks,” the motive force tells PEOPLE solely. “That is why you actually do not see that many females in NASCAR. I am actually, I believe, the one one operating a full season this 12 months in NASCAR.”
Jenny Austin & Jack Gillen
Toni Breidinger predicted her NASCAR profession at age 9.
Born of Lebanese and German descent, Breidinger is the primary Arab-American feminine to compete in NASCAR. She made historical past because the highest-placing feminine debut driver within the Truck Sequence with a robust fifteenth end at Kansas Speedway in 2023.
Breidinger now races full-time with TRICON Storage within the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Sequence, driving the No. 5 Toyota Tundra TRD Professional with sponsorship from Elevating Cane’s, CELSIUS and Sunoco amid her rookie season.
“It is so much about progress on the monitor,” she tells PEOPLE of the bodily and psychological power wanted to achieve the game. “However then off the monitor, additionally rising my fan base is basically vital. I like having the ability to attain a bigger viewers and hopefully encourage a bigger viewers, notably females.”
That is what makes her newest partnership with Kendall Jenner’s 818 Tequila so natural for Breidinger, who’s teaming up with the alcohol model founder because the first-ever sports activities companion and ambassador.
Jenny Austin & Jack Gillen
Toni Breidinger companions with Kendall Jenner’s 818 Tequila.
“It is crucial to work with manufacturers who really feel genuine to me and have the identical morals,” the athlete says. “I really feel like 818 aligns with me completely as a result of they’re all about group, they’re female-founded and led.”
“I do know traditionally the tequila house has been very male-dominated and so is the motorsport house, a really male-dominated business,” she continues. “So I like to see what Kendall’s doing as a feminine entrepreneur… each of our worlds sort of aligned.”
Breidinger provides, “I would not be right here with out all these wonderful partnerships.”
The motive force notes that her rise to motorsport success got here with zero familial background within the business. “My dad and mom actually didn’t know something about NASCAR as I used to be rising up,” she makes identified.
Her ardour combined with willpower was what drove Breidinger to pursue racing severely, fueling her curiosity in turning into professional in the future.
“I keep in mind I got here to my dad and mom with this doc saying, “That is what I must do, that is my plan on how I’ll turn out to be a NASCAR driver,'” she says. “So once I was 17, I informed them, ‘As soon as I graduate highschool, I am going off, going to maneuver to North Carolina and attempt to be a NASCAR driver.'”
Breidinger provides, “Actually I sort of simply winged it, however fortunately it is labored out.”
Jenny Austin & Jack Gillen
Toni Breidinger is the first-ever sports activities companion of Kendall Jenner’s 818 Tequila
When she’s not behind the wheel, the motive force’s participating along with her million-plus followers throughout social media. As an athlete and content material creator who triples as a mannequin, she usually shares race-related posts along with fashion-forward content material on-line.
“On the monitor I’m very aggressive and pushed and have very tunnel imaginative and prescient, however then off the monitor I like to be inventive and use social media as a strategy to sort of categorical that creativity and in addition develop my fan base,” she says.
“It is humorous as a result of I really feel like I am not the, I suppose, conventional NASCAR driver,” Breidinger says. “While you see me I do not scream NASCAR driver, however I believe that is sort of cool that I sort of carry perhaps a brand new fan base to the game.”
She concludes, “I wish to be a trailblazer. I am right here to create my very own path. I need not observe anyone else’s. I all the time say do not be afraid to be the primary you, in order that’s sort of what I dwell by.”
Learn the unique article on Folks
