Toni Breidinger

Toni Breidinger races in the NASCAR Truck series and has been a regular in the ARCA Menards Series for several seasons.

She made her ARCA debut in 2018, aged 19, driving a Toyota for Venturini Motorsports. Her first race was at Madison and she finished tenth. She was then twelfth at Gateway and 18th at Chicago. Her team-mate was Natalie Decker, and they were joined by Leilani Munter at Chicago, making up the first three-woman team in the series. She made one appearance in the CARS Super Late Model Tour in 2019, finishing 15th at Radford. Away from ARCA, Toni raced in the USAC Silver Crown championship for dirt cars and in Late Models.

In an attempt at a sideways move, she tried to qualify for the inaugural W Series championship in 2019. She made the list of 55 drivers who were assessed, but was rejected at this stage.

In 2021, she returned to ARCA, entering nine rounds of its main series. Her best finishes were two ninth places at Winchester and Springfield. She spent half the season with Tyler Young before going back to a Venturini car. In addittion to this, she contested one Menards Series West race in each car, both at Phoenix, finishing one and crashing out of the other on the opening lap.

An almost full ARCA season followed in 2022, driving Cathy Venturini's car. Six of her twenty races ended in top tens, with her best being an eighth place at Salem. She was sixth in the championship.

In 2023, she made her first starts in the Craftsman Truck championship, driving for David Gilliland and sponsored by Victoria's Secret. She finished all three races, the best of these being a 15th place at Kansas. This was combined with most of the main ARCA season, where she earned seven top-ten finishes, including a third place at her lucky track, Kansas.

This arrangement continued for 2024, with a part-season in Trucks and a regular spot in ARCA. Most of her time was spent in ARCA, with her qualifying pace improving and more top tens coming her way. She has had a variety of sponsors. The same team runs her in certain rounds of the East and West series, where she is also a top-ten regular. Her Truck schedule is more limited.

She previously raced in sprintcars against her twin sister, Annie. She is the only female NASCAR driver of Arab descent in the world, having Lebanese heritage.

(Image copyright Roman Empire)