Toni Breidinger is putting in the work at New Smyrna Speedway to make her NASCAR dreams come true

(Photo: Adam Fenwick/NASCAR)

Toni Breidinger is putting in the work at New Smyrna Speedway to make her NASCAR dreams come true

BY ADAM FENWICK FEBRUARY 12, 2024

NEW SMYRNA BEACH, Fla. — Toni Breidinger isn’t afraid to put in the work to get better.

Her schedule last season was a prime example of that. In addition to racing part-time in the ARCA Menards Series, she competed in pro late models, ran sports cars in the GR Cup Series and entered three NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series events.

Such a broad plan figures to help Breidinger improve her race craft as she continues to pursue her goal of racing full-time in NASCAR.

The path remains the same for 2024. Breidinger is preparing to compete in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series and ARCA Menards Series races at Daytona International Speedway this week by competing in the World Series of Asphalt Stock Car Racing at nearbytrack.

“I ran New Smyrna last year and the ARCA race, and I’m doing the same thing again this year but adding the Truck race on top of that,” Breidinger said. “It’s definitely going to be busy. It was a little overwhelming at times last year trying to make it between Daytona and New Smyrna on the same day.

“I think the biggest thing this year is to continue improving on my race craft. I made some good gains last year, and I think running these late models and running at short tracks and doing the [NASCAR Advance Auto Parts] Weekly Series was a really big part of it

Late-model racing has been a huge part of Breidinger’s development program over the last 12 months. Working with father-son duo Lee and Michael Faulk of Lee Faulk Racing, she evolved her craft at tracks like New Smyrna, Florence Motor Speedway in South Carolina, and Hickory Motor Speedway and Tri-County Speedway in North Carolina.

The result was a clear improvement in the ARCA Menards Series; she earned four top-five finishes in 2023, including a career-best third at Kansas Speedway.

Breidinger credits the work she’s put in at places like New Smyrna, where people aren’t always watching, for helping her become a better racer.

“These are races that I didn’t really post a lot about, and they weren’t really televised, so people were like, ‘Oh, she’s improving out of nowhere,’” Breidinger said. “But I think it was all the work I put in behind the scenes at all these short tracks that really kind of helped me and kept me in the seat.”

That’s why she’s back at New Smyrna, a track where she admits she’s struggled in the past, as she prepares for another full ARCA season with Venturini Motorsports.

She wants to see that trend continue.

“I think coming back here, even though I struggled with it a good bit last year, I came here knowing I wanted that challenge and wanting to improve and prove to myself that I’ve made gains,” she said. “I almost like going to tracks that I feel like I’ve struggled with in the past.

“I love that we’re racing here every single night. I feel like, for the most part, when you go race it’s every weekend, so you have a whole week to think about, ‘Oh, I want to do this next time.’ Whereas, with these races, you can make that change the following day. It’s immediate changes and immediate improvements that you can do. I think from a driver development perspective, it was a pretty good move for me.”

But what can a short track like New Smyrna teach Breidinger to prepare her for the high banks of the World Center of Racing?

A lot, actually