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Cayden Lapcevich, former NASCAR Canada champion, relieves Toni Breidinger midrace at Watkins Glen

JHby:Jonathan Howard•09/13/24•

Jondean25

Toni Breidinger
Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

A wild turn of events in Watkins Glen. Toni Breidinger has been replaced by her crew chief, Cayden Lapcevich due to injury. Lapcevich is the 2016 NASCAR Canada Series champion, and he’s only 24 years old.

Toni Breidinger burned her foot in a recent race. Dealing with that injury, the Venturini Motorsports driver tried her best to drive at The Glen today. At the halfway break, she got out of the car and was replaced by Lapcevich.

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Cayden is a young crew chief. His younger brother Treyten races in the CARS Tour and is also a NASCAR Canada champ. Keep an eye on that No. 25 car as it now has a new driver.

This season has not gone the way Toni Breidinger had hoped it would. She was hoping to compete for the points lead and be in contention to maybe even win a race at some point. However, bad luck, wrecks, and at times, a lack of speed have held her back.

Today at Watkins Glen, she held her own with the injury. Racing with a bad burn on your foot is not ideal. Cayden Lapcevich is more than capable of racing this thing out and getting to the end of the race with a clean car.

At the moment, Lapcevich is the first car a lap down. With how much green flag racing we have had, I doubt he gets the lucky dog to get back on the lead lap.

Toni Breidinger out of the car, Connor Zilisch dominates

While Toni Breidinger had to get out of the race car early, it was quite a show on the track. Connor Zilisch was putting up lap times that no other driver could match. It was lap after lap of speed and consistency.

Zilisch has blown up this year. He is seen as the future of NASCAR and with a new sponsorship from Red Bull, as well as race wins to back it up, he is well on his way. He makes his Xfinity Series debut tomorrow afternoon.

There really isn’t much else to say. He was perfect. Even with a car that was wheel-hopping, he was just faster than everyone else. William Sawalich had no answer for Zilisch this week.

Toni Breidinger had a rough day today. The rest of the season could go well for her, though. It is never too late to have a great race, as long as there are dates on the schedule left, she has opportunities moving forward.