'Big moment for me:' Toni Breidinger to make fourth Truck Series start, but first at Daytona
Toni Breidinger is set to make the biggest start of her racing career this coming Friday night.
Driving the No. 1 CELSIUS energy drink Toyota for Tricon Garage, the 24-year-old California native will make her fourth career start in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series in the Fresh From Florida 250 at Daytona International Speedway.
While she’s raced at Daytona before in an ARCA car, Friday night’s race will be her first Truck Series start at a superspeedway.
“I feel like there’s a lot of excitement and a whole bunch of mixed emotions going into the race,” Breidinger said in an interview with Auto Racing Digest. “Now I have my favorite energy drink sponsor on the truck and ARCA car so now I feel like there’s even more excitement from my end. I can’t wait. I’ve run Daytona a few times now, but this is the most excited I’ve ever been for it.”
Being her first Truck Series start on a superspeedway, Breidinger expects Friday night’s race to be a “big learning experience.” In preparation, Tricon teammate Corey Hiem has been giving her advice about the main differences between how a truck and ARCA car handle at Daytona.
Breidinger’s finished 15th in her Truck Series debut last May at Kansas Speedway. She made two more Truck Series starts in 2023, finishing 24th at Gateway and 17th at Nashville.
“I think my (Truck Series) debut had a big question mark because I didn’t know how I was going to stack up in the Truck Series,” Breidinger said. “I think I almost had less pressure on myself because I didn’t really know where I should finish. I really didn’t know what to expect and I just went into it super open-minded.
“But now that I have a few races under my belt, I feel like there is a little bit of added pressure for myself. I think that this is a big moment for me where I need to step up and show some improvement from last year, which I think I’m definitely capable of.”
On the ARCA side of things, Breidinger will drive the No. 25 Toyota for Venturini Motorsports in Saturday’s ARCA Daytona 200, the first of 20 races in what will be a full-time schedule for the team.
While she had a part-time schedule in 2023, Breidinger picked up four top-five finishes last year – including her career-best finish of third - which came at Kansas in September. Of her 45 career starts in the ARCA Series, Breidinger had her best season overall last year, not only the four top-five showings, but also seven top-10 outings (which followed up on six top-10s in 2022).
“I’m very excited,” Breidinger said of her 2024 ARCA plans. “I ran a full season back in 2022 and it was my first time going to a lot of the tracks. I wasn’t all that familiar with the ARCA car yet.
“Last year, there were a lot of things I wanted to improve on the race craft end, just kind of building off the previous year. Now this is kind of like my third year really at it. I’m excited. I think the third time’s the charm, so we’ll see what we can do.”
Raising Cane’s will serve as Breidinger’s primary sponsor in ARCA, with CELSIUS as an associate sponsor. Both sponsors join a variety of major brands that have sponsored Breidinger, including Hairclub, PitViper, Victoria’s Secret (whom Breidinger had modeled for) and Hot Wheels (which sponsored her in Toyota GR Cup).
Not many young drivers can say that they’ve been sponsored by such names so early in their career, but Breidinger – who has amassed a reported five-plus million followers on social media– has already built a brand that is attractive to potential partners.
Of course, being a legitimate fan of each sponsor just makes the pairing even better.
“All those brands are brands that I genuinely love and use,” Breidinger said of her sponsors. “I feel like with brands, they want to work with someone that actually likes their product and they really want authentic content and partnerships.
“I think for me, using social media and having a platform to say ‘I’m drinking a CELSIUS right now. I love CELSIUS.’ I think social media is a huge tool. It’s something that I’ve been working on building on for many years. Also, I have a great team behind me that kind of helps connect the dots for partnerships. Luckily, I have been able to work with brands I love and they’re definitely household names. It’s cool. I feel like I’m in a really good spot in my career.”
Breidinger’s Daytona Truck Series debut will take place this Friday, February 16 at 7:00 pm ET. The ARCA season opener will take place on Saturday, February 17 at 1:30 pm ET. Both races will be broadcast live on FS1 and MRN.