Toni Breidinger spent last year learning, now she’s manifesting a winning season

Last year, in a crowded Venturini Motorsports garage, Toni Breidinger ran part-time in the ARCA Menards Series. Now that some drivers have moved onto NASCAR and others have turned to other opportunities – it is Toni’s turn to take the wheel.

Toni Breidinger is going to run a full-time season this year. She will be in the No. 25 Toyota for Venturini Motorsports. Last year was a year spent learning. She ran races in the ARCA Menards Series, the Craftsman Truck Series, Toyota GR Cup, and other series and cars.

This year, she’s still learning where she can, running Late Model events with Lee Faulk Racing and flying under the radar as she does it, not promoting much of her extra work on social media.

Securing her first career top-5 finishes, including a P3 finish at Kansas and P4 at Salem last year, Toni Breidinger has shifted her goals. In a recent interview with 5GOATs, the driver and model explained her progression from last year to this year.

“[Last year] I just wanted to really develop my race craft to gear up for going for a championship this year,” Breidinger said. “So, I feel like last year was just about getting seat time and really just pushing myself to adapt to new cars, new tracks on the fly because I feel like that’s where I’ve lacked in the past.”

All of that other racing in 2023 was buildup for 2024. Breidinger made it clear that she has eyes on running a championship season.

“I think my end goal is definitely to get that championship.”

Of course, in order to win a championship in the ARCA Menards Series, Toni Breidinger is going to have to win races. Something she has not done yet.

Billy Venturini has given Breidinger the green light

Every driver goes into every race with hopes of winning. That goal is more realistic at times for certain drivers than others. Last year, winning was a hope for Breidinger. The difference between then and now, winning is the goal.

Before last season, when talking to Billy Venturini, Breidinger was told to focus on top-10 and top-5 finishes. Winning wasn’t really going to be in the cards for her. Whether that was due to Jesse Love’s dominance, the crowded lineup of drivers at Venturini, or whatever reason.

This year, Venturini has given her the green light, saying that winning is the goal in 2024.

“I just kind of had another sit down with [Billy] last week. So, I was like, ‘Do you think winning should be a goal this year?’ and he was like, ‘Yeah, definitely.’ Going off what Billy said, he has the confidence behind me, my team has confidence behind me.

“I feel confident saying that but also just the process and goals of getting there. Obviously, a win is not going to be the easiest thing to achieve and I don’t know when it’s going to happen, but I think every race if I execute what I know I need to do, I think have a great car and team behind me so we’ll just see what it brings.”

Up to this point, her hard work has earned her starts in the Truck Series, sponsorships with Raising Cane’s and most recently Celsius, and another full-time season in ARCA.

With sponsorship support, team support, and the blessing from the King Maker of ARCA, Billy Venturini, Toni Breidinger is ready to get things started at Daytona.

Toni Breidinger has been dreaming of a win at Daytona

What better way to open up a championship season than with a win at Daytona? It is the dream of every driver who takes the track at the World Center of Racing. Breidinger is no different.

This year there are 50 entries in the ARCA 200 at Daytona. It features drivers such as Shane van Gisbergen, Marco Andretti, Justin Bonsignore, and more. That excites Breidinger as she prepares for her fourth run at Daytona.

“There’s a lot of talent to race around and I feel like since I’ve been doing Daytona I think this is the most, I want to say competitive race,” Breidinger explained. “There’s so many cars, so many experienced veteran drivers in there. I’m looking forward to it I think it’s going to be good racing, I think it’s going to be tough.”

In the pre-race practice session a few weeks ago, Toni Breidinger showed speed and car control. She was second fastest only to Jake Finch, her ARCA teammate. While most think of Daytona as just driving fast and turning left, Breidinger went deeper than that in her practice session.

“I think there’s actually a lot you can focus on and for me going into the Daytona test I was like, I want to have the smoothest wheel. I just want to be the smoothest one out there and that was one of my goals.”

If she holds a smooth wheel like she did a few weeks ago, keeps out of the hornet’s nest that is the midpack in ARCA, and has just enough luck, Breidinger might end up checking Daytona and her first career win off her to-do list for 2024.

What would that mean for her? Well, everything.

“Oh I’d probably be crying the entire time, I don’t even know if I could talk,” Breidinger said. “I don’t even know if I could do a burnout or anything, I’d be in so many tears. But it’d be a really cool moment. I definitely dream about it and I’m really big into manifesting, so yeah, it’d be really cool.”