Toni Breidinger isn't just getting ready for her next race -- she's preparing to carry an entire industry's expectations on her shoulders starting in 2025. TRICON Garage recently announced the 25-year-old will be taking on a full-time role in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, and with it, the weight of being a trailblazer in more ways than one.

And those shoulders? They're no strangers to the spotlight. Soon they'll be bare for all to see in Sports Illustrated's 2025 swimsuit issue, marking a first for any NASCAR driver. It's just part of a resume filled with milestones that many can only hope to have over the course of an entire career.

Breidinger has spent time as a model appearing not only in SI but in high-profile modeling campaigns for brands like GAP, and Victoria's Secret with representation from IMG Models, one of the top agencies in the business. Toss in over five million followers across Instagram and TikTok, and you've got a social media powerhouse. But this isn't just another influencer with a hobby -- Breidinger is the real deal on the track too.

"It's kind of funny, cause everyone's like 'oh, you have to do one thing. You have to be a race car driver or a model, you can't do both'," she says. But do both, she can and does. "They kind of work perfectly for me because I do leverage my modeling to help me get behind the wheel...they kind of really go hand in hand for me. And I feel like I'm able to balance them really well."

Her racing journey began with go-karts at Sonoma Raceway, where she and her twin sister Annie got their first taste of competition. Annie's now working in STEM, while Toni has racked up 19 USAC wins and a historic run in the ARCA Menards Series, with a fourth-place finish in the championship standings this year. That makes her the highest-performing female driver in ARCA history. She's also a graduate of NASCAR's Drive for Diversity program, and she's got serious backing from sponsors like Raising Cane's, CELSIUS, and Sunoco. All with support from Toyota Racing Development as one of its drivers.

"Some of my partners are involved in NASCAR and they sponsor other drivers and some of my other partners, they really don't know much about NASCAR and I kind of brought them into it," she said. "So coming to some of my partners say, 'hey, I'm in the Truck Series', they're like, 'OK, cool, we really know that is, but we're going to support you no matter what.'

"It's exciting that they not only believe in me, but also female athletes... it's very empowering to work with brands that kind of have the same morals as me."

Not that she's just coasting on sponsorships. In her NASCAR debut at Kansas in 2023, Breidinger made history as the highest-placing female debut driver in the Truck Series with a strong 15th-place finish. That performance helped seal her deal with TRICON. "They got to know my work ethic and how much I want this," she says. Relationships, she notes, are everything in NASCAR. "The more you can build connections and relationships with people the better off you are."

Now she faces the challenge of balancing a full-time racing schedule with her thriving modeling career and social media empire. It sounds like a recipe for chaos, but she has already gained a great deal of experience by using different mindsets; one is her "racer brain" she uses on race days, and a different one when not at the track.

"I almost have to just to be able to switch those mindsets so fast, which I feel like I just naturally am able to do for the most part," she said. "But it's tricky. Like almost thinking I try not to."

She also does a lot of planning ahead.

"I try not to think too much about like, what I have going on in my head because. If I'm like present and I just, embrace everything and kind of switch those mindsets in the moment, I feel like it can balance it out pretty well."

She'll need every bit of that balance as she steps into a space where female drivers have historically faced an uphill battle. Hailie Deegan gave it a shot with TRICON in 2021 and 2022, even snagging a sixth-place finish at Talladega, but her NASCAR journey stalled. Breidinger, however, is laser-focused on her own path. She's already building chemistry having met her new crew and setting goals for the season ahead.

"They said the biggest thing is one make sure you come to the shop, build a relationship with the guys and then to always have a positive mindset," she said. "I think for me, starting off with the season always kind of you know, building that relationship with the team, having that positive mindset I think is going to be a solid start to the season automatically."

Breidinger is determined to keep her head down, put in the groundwork, and turn all that potential into results.

"I think as long as I put in that preparation into the races during the season, during the offseason, building the relationship with the team, always having a positive mindset, I feel like those are some key parts to putting together some results," she said. "That's kind of my focus."

The stakes are sky-high. She's not just racing for wins; she's racing for representation, for sponsors, for social media clout, and to continue what she hopes will be a historic journey into the top tiers of NASCAR and ultimately into Victory Lane, a place no female NASCAR driver has ever been, at least as a winner.

"I'm very big into journaling," she admits. "I'll write goals out and some dreams of mine... it's definitely something that I think about and something I see in my future at some point."

So, is Toni Breidinger the future of NASCAR? If you ask her, she's already halfway there.