Toni Breidinger is making her full-time NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series debut in 2025 but the anticipation of the next step in her racing career is getting towards a fever pitch. She is a Sports Illustrated swimsuit model, and a social media beacon with more than 5 million followers on TikTok and Instagram, but ultimately, she is a racer trying to make it in the highly competitive NASCAR circuit.
"Yeah, I definitely have been making the haters a little mad lately, that's for sure," Toni Breidinger told Newsweek and other journalists.
"But I mean, all good stuff on my end, everyone in my inner circle is really excited and happy. It's kind of a new chapter for me. So I mean obviously easier said than done to say ignore the haters, but everyone in my inner circle and my team and Toyota and all my partners, they're really excited, they're really happy and for me that's really what counts at the end of the day. So I try not to put too much thought into comments online."
She is a 25-year-old trailblazer as the first Arabic-American woman to drive in a national NASCAR series. She is from the Bay Area, not necessarily the biggest hotbed of developing stock car drivers, and ultimately, she is a new demographic in NASCAR unto herself.
"Yeah, I mean hopefully I can bring in a new demographic to watch the truck series and to watch NASCAR," Breidinger said. "I do feel like my fan base is very international, which is exciting, but I do feel like I kind of cross it over and get some people interested. Even just reading some DMs and comments. I always see people saying, 'Oh, I'm going to watch NASCAR now.' So yeah, I think just kind of taking my demographic and bring it over to the NASCAR side and hopefully I can gain some more NASCAR fans too."
Her new deal with TRICON Garage gives her the opportunity to develop as a driver for a fully established team in the Craftsman Truck Series.
"It's not like I'm working harder, I'm just more stable and present and able to feel confident in myself," Breidinger said. "So huge mental game and yeah, I think I'm pretty good with keeping a calm head on my shoulders and everything."
Breidinger is picking up the torch from Danica Patrick for women competing in NASCAR. For her to gain acceptance on the track and in the fans' eyes she will need to be successful and in time win a race. No small feat for any driver, but she has aligned herself with a stable and successful outfit in TRICON Garage that can make it possible to compete at a high level consistently. Danica's failures on the track are not Breidinger's to inherit, but with the limited number of women competing in NASCAR any comparisons are inevitable.
Success on the track can squelch hate derived from sexism and Breidinger has the ability and the opportunity to silence the haters.
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