After being wrecked on Lap 4 of the ARCA Menards Series race at Daytona, Toni Breidinger was more than upset with teammate Gus Dean. Dean, who is just part-time in the NASCAR development series this year, came down on Breidinger, causing a wreck.
Not only did Dean wreck one teammate, he wrecked two. Kris Wright was also involved in the incident, ending his day as well. For Venturini Motorsports, that is just not going to fly. They are about winning, and taking out two full-time teammates is a big no-no.
Especially for a driver who is 29 years old and has 58 ARCA starts as well as 26 Truck Series races. When asked about the incident, Toni Breidinger did not hold back on Dean.
“Gus thought he was clear and he was not clear, definitely not clear,” Breidinger said after leaving the care center.
“I mean in the truck race, people were aggressive but nobody just cleared themself down,” the driver continued. “I did the entire truck race, people were very aggressive, I don’t know, Gus is supposed to have the most experience here, supposed to be the veteran of the team. But I don’t know, I have no idea what he was doing, just a stupid move.”
At the time she hadn’t had a conversation with Dean, as he was still in the race doing fine.
“I’ve not talked to him but it’s just unfortunate because he took out Kris our other teammate we’re both going full-time in the season. Gus is just pulling up for a couple of races because his dad is writing the check.”
Toni Breidinger on Gus Dean: ‘I lost respect for him as a driver’
While Breidinger enjoyed her time in the Truck Series race, it was a quick end to her day in ARCA. That does sting when you consider she is full-time in ARCA and only running a few Truck Series races at most in 2024.
The Venturini driver talked about that frustration. She also talked about why that wreck was so upsetting, not just for her, but other drivers as wel.
“So it’s just frustrating that he has a lack of respect for, I mean, he wrecked a few other people I was talking to one of the other guys in the ambulance,” Breidinger explained. “Everybody works so hard to get here, so for him to do that on Lap Three, I don’t even know why he was going three-wide I don’t even know why he would leave me in the middle in the first place, it’s a different conversation.”
When it comes to racing with Gus again, Toni Breidinger is going to just leave him out to dry. She doesn’t plan on working with him again. It will be an interesting team meeting at Venturini this week.
“I think we’re going to have some more races with him, I’m definitely not going to help him out again. I’m gonna still have respect for him on the track because he’s my teammate, he’s in a Venturini car and I want the best for our team but just really really frustrating and I lost respect for him as a driver … it’s really disappointing what he did, he clearly doesn’t have any respect for us.”
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