Jade Avedisian is developing with Toyota and inspiring the next generation of girls to race

In November of last year, Jade Avedisian became an official part of the Toyota Racing family in their driver development program. Avedisian has impressed in midget racing for the last few years and she has NASCAR dreams one day.

For now, Jade Avedisian is still developing and branching out. The 17-year-old will take on a more diversified racing schedule in 2024. She has starts lined up on dirt once more in the Xtreme Outlaw Series with Keith Kuntz Motorsports. She is the reigning champion, the only female to ever win a national series midget championship.

Outside of her usual dirt racing, Avedisian is racing the Toyota GR Cup schedule. This will be a deep dive into road course racing and asphalt racing for the young driver. It is a similar path to what Toni Breidinger and other Toyota drivers have taken.

In a recent interview, I spoke with Jade about her 2024 plans. More than anything, she’s ready to try new things and experience new forms of racing.

“I’ve never really had the chance to do so many different types of cars and obviously one is on dirt and one is on asphalt,” Avedisian explained. “It’s going to be something different but I’m looking forward to it, I love racing midgets and I’m also looking forward to getting my feet wet in road course stuff in a GR Cup car, it’s really cool.

“I’ve tested it a few times and I had a blast doing it. So, I’m excited to kind of do two different kinds of racing this year and I think it will overall help my growth, making me a better race car driver every single weekend. I think it’s important that you can do any type of race car on any type of surface.”

Jade Avedisian has yet to turn 18. Already, she is winning races, winning championships, and inspiring the next generation of girls and young women in racing.

Keeping outside noise out by focusing on results

To start the 2024 NASCAR season, a topic popped up on NASCAR Twitter/X. Should women be in racing? Of course, that is a ridiculous question, sports and motorsports are for everyone. There are more girls and women in racing every day because of drivers like Jade Avedisian.

Still, there are those who are stuck in the past and they are sometimes very loud.

For the most part, Avedisian doesn’t pay attention to what people say online. She has more than enough to worry about on the race track. Besides, when you have kids coming up to you and telling you that you’re the reason they are in racing – nothing can take that feeling away.

“Yeah just try to pay attention to kind of just me,” said about the outside noise of social media. “We race a lot so I think it’s obviously a lot and my job is to do the best I can every single weekend. I try to do the best I can, I try to compete the best I can.

“But I do think it’s really cool when little girls come up to me and say I inspired them to start racing. It’s hard to put feelings into words but I remember when I was a little kid I would always go up to people and I just always kind of dreamed of racing one day in any type of car. For it to be kind of flipped now is super special to me.”

As she continues to grow as a driver, Jade Avedisian is going to keep picking up fans. She is still early in her career, but soon, she could racing on speedways.

Jade Avedisian has her eyes on NASCAR

So, what is the ultimate goal for this young racer? While she’s tearing it up on the dirt right now, the real goal is stock car racing. Working with Toyota has unlocked a lot for Avedisian, including a path to NASCAR, and it is a partnership she has a ton of appreciation for.

It is the result of a lot of hard work and maybe a little bit of manifesting.

“Honestly, kind of a dream come true,” Avedisian said about being part of the Toyota Racing program. “To be a part of the Toyota family is a dream come true. They have done a great job so far to prepare me as best as they can just because I have realistically no road course experience. … They knew going into it that it was going to be a little bit harder for me I would say than other drivers but like I said they’ve done a fantastic job of making sure I’m as prepared as I can be whether it’s a midget or the road course side of things.”

The part is pretty clear. Looking at what Toyota has done with other young drivers, you can almost predict where Jade Avedisian will be headed next. She will need more time to develop on asphalt as well as sports cars and stock cars than others.

However, we have seen what dirt drivers can do in NASCAR. Kyle Larson, Tyler Reddick, Christopher Bell, and Chase Briscoe, just to name a few. But if she takes a similar path, she will soon be in late models, then perhaps some ARCA starts in a year or two.

It’s all in pursuit of one goal – racing on Sundays.

“I’m not sure of my timeline, but my ultimate goal is to be racing on Sundays in the NASCAR Cup Series. I don’t know if that’s going to be 20 years, 5 years, but that is my goal at the end of the day.”