Isabella Robusto Wins ARCA Rookie of the Year – Isabella Robusto Racing Photo
Isabella Robusto revels in the confidence boost associated with her ARCA Menards Series Rookie of the Year award
Everything about the 2025 season served as a new chapter for Isabella Robusto.
This included making sure everyone in the garage area knew her last name was pronounced ‘ROH-BOOST-oh’, not ‘ROH-BUST-oh’.
On the track, Robusto managed the pitfalls and triumphs that came with her first full-time season competing in the ARCA Menards Series. After recording four DNFs across the opening five races, Robusto regrouped to end 2025 with nine top-five finishes in total, securing the ARCA Menards Series Rookie of the Year in the process.
Despite the accomplishment, Robusto believed there was more she could have achieved in the ARCA Menards Series were it not for the slow start. The final 15 races of 2025 highlighted the consistency Robusto knew was possible with Venturini Motorsports, which has given her something to build on for the upcoming year.
“I felt like we didn’t have the greatest year,” Robusto said. “Definitely had some good races, but [there were] also lots of mechanical issues and wrecks that I got caught up in. It was a good ending to the year for the team to show that we did have some good races. I’m looking forward to the future [so I can show] what I can do.”
Even with the challenges she faced during the 2025 ARCA Menards Series season, Robusto cherishes being able to continue her dream of succeeding in motorsports after losing nearly an entire year of her development.
While battling for a victory in a Pro Late Model race at Hickory Motor Speedway in 2023, contact with Mike Hopkins broke a tie rod on her right front tire. The damage left Robusto a passenger in her own car, as she could not do anything to prevent a full-speed impact with Hickory’s inside retaining wall.
After feeling unwell the following Monday, Robusto was diagnosed with a concussion, which ended up keeping her out of the car for much longer than she anticipated. During that time, Robusto followed every procedure in the concussion protocol, patiently waiting to get clearance from her doctors.
Robusto watched as time gradually slipped away on 2023 while development drivers with Toyota and other manufacturers garnered both experience and wins. Frustrations manifested on more than one occasion for Robusto while she recuperated, but she also maintained her patience and the trust of everyone at Toyota to get her back on track.
“I didn’t really know during the recovery process how long the time would be for me to get back into the car,” Robusto said. “Concussions are something that don’t really have a time stamp. There were a bunch of times where we tried to get into the car and do some practice stuff, but I wasn’t able to.
“I had to mentally prepare myself every time I went out that this might not be the time I get cleared, but in the back of my mind. [I knew] this is what I wanted to do.”
Medical clearance finally came for Robusto late in 2023, allowing her to compete in the All American 100 at Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway that November. A quiet, 16th place run helped Robusto get re-acclimated to race conditions, something that would be essential ahead of a planned part-time ARCA Menards Series schedule for 2024.
Robusto made a strong impression in her national ARCA Menards Series debut with a sixth-place performance at Phoenix Raceway. She continued to string together solid results throughout the three ARCA Menards Series divisions, with Robusto’s highlights including three runner-up finishes, a pole at Kansas Speedway and 58 laps led at Irwindale Speedway.
If not for a flat tire late in the Irwindale event, Robusto could have joined Hailie Deegan and Gracie Trotter as women who’ve won in the West Series. All the strong outings Robusto put together in 2024 validated her belief she can excel on a national stage despite the setback she endured.
Robusto’s pursuit of an ARCA Menards Series championship in 2025 took an immediate hit when she was collected in a crash at Daytona International Speedway. Over the next four events, Robusto failed to finish three of them, with that stretch including two more crashes at Kansas and Charlotte Motor Speedway.
The only race Robusto finished in that stretch was at Talladega Superspeedway, where she brought home a third-place finish.
Already in a significant points deficit, Robusto knew something needed to change if she and Venturini wanted to overcome their early struggles. A pivotal meeting following Charlotte proved to be the turning point in Robusto’s year.
“We sat down and talked to the team,” Robusto said. “We walked through what we thought were the issues throughout the first five races and came up with a plan together of things I was going to work on, along with the team. We worked through things internally, and I think we found solutions.”
The rest of the season saw Robusto place outside the top 10 on just two occasions, at the Illinois State Fairgrounds and Bristol Motor Speedway, both of which were DNFs. She also tallied eight more top fives and ended up matching her season-best showing of third at Dover Motor Speedway in July.
Even though improved consistency got her Rookie of the Year honors, Robusto wishes she had finished inside the top three for the ARCA Menards Series points. The six DNFs, combined with an 18-point penalty from Talladega due to technical infractions, contributed to Robusto placing fourth in the final standings, just eight points back from Jason Kitzmiller.
Despite this, Robusto considers her first full-time ARCA Menards Series venture a resounding success. Already comfortable with both short tracks and road courses, Robusto knew comprehending aerodynamics at intermediates and superspeedways would be crucial.
Three of Robusto’s top fives came at paved tracks larger than 0.75 miles in length. That small-but-diligent progress helped Robusto deliver one more top five points finish for Venturini in the team’s final season of operation.
Robusto is thankful for the time spent with Venturini and how everyone within the program came together to close out 2025 on a positive note. While she would have loved to deliver the Venturini family a victory, she is confident the guidance they passed down will set her up for years of success in stock cars.
“The team and I never gave up,” Robusto said. “We got better and better every race. At the end of the year at Toledo, we were fighting for second and third. We had the pace to run comfortably in second and third, along with possibly going for the win if we had the long run [pace] and if things played in our favor.
“I was really proud with how we ended the year off strong and found the pace we needed to. Unfortunately, it was a little late in the year for what we needed to be in championship contention, but I have all of that in my notes for the future.”
In many ways, the 2025 season served as a microcosm of how the past few years have unfolded for Robusto. Adversity initially slowed her down, but she powered through the tribulations to show the industry how much talent and composure she possesses.
Now with an ARCA Menards Series Rookie of the Year title on her resumé, Robusto enters the winter months with her confidence and resolve boosted, eager to start the next chapter that she hopes will feature plenty of trips to Victory Lane.
