Folks, a Hollywood x NASCAR crossover is rare! Well, unless you don’t count the Richard Petty-inspired character in the animated ‘CARS’ movie. Or the Rick Hendrick-inspired character in Tom Cruise’s ‘Days of Thunder.’ Well, when Frankie Muniz was playing Malcolm in the popular show, ‘Malcolm in the Middle,’ he never imagined he would be running a full season in NASCAR. But here he is in 2025, in the #33 truck of Reaume Brothers Racing. And it’s surprising that after a successful career in Hollywood, he’s found his calling somewhere so unrelated.
He might be an actor first, but Muniz has always been a racing fan before. Be it watching NASCAR when he was young. Or getting a tattoo of checkered flags on his left wrist back in 2006 when he was into open-wheel racing. He did four years of Champ Car Atlantic Series (2006-2009), and was looking for a career in maybe IndyCar. But then in ’09, he got into an accident. And with a broken back and time away from racing, the relevance of those checkered flags on his hands started to disappear. But there was always some pull towards racing. And then finally fast forward to 2021, he was in a stock car running in the ARCA series. Which were followed by a few Xfinity starts, and a few Truck starts last season, and now, Muniz is set for his first full season!
NASCAR is what Frankie Muniz wants to do!
For someone from Hollywood, winning an Oscar would have been a dream. But not for Muniz. For him, it’s all about getting past that checkered flag. He gets his adrenaline rush from being in the victory lane. Well, he’s not had that pleasure in NASCAR yet, but he felt that in 2005 when he won the pro/celebrity race at Long Beach. And since then, he’s wanted more and more of that.
He wants to do nothing other than racing. In a recent interview on the’ Bobby Bones Show,’ Muniz said, “So it wasn’t something I like thought my whole life that I’d get to do. But I’m so grateful that, that small experience in the pro-celebrity race led me to where I am now. Cause’ I can say this like I’ve gone to do a lot of things in my life and I’ve you know had a lot of success and I’m super grateful for all that but when I put my visor down and I leave the pit lane. I truly feel like I’m doing what I’m supposed to be doing and that’s a that’s a pretty cool feeling to have.”
And Frankie Muniz did not grow up in a racing household, so to picture himself as a driver was tough for him. But still, as a kid, he enjoyed watching it! And not just NASCAR, all kinds of racing, IndyCar, Formula One, the list is long. But then he went into acting, and Malcolm happened. And under Hollywood stardom, the racing kind of got lost for him. But he then got to drive the pace car at the 2001, Daytona 500! Yup. The same race where Dale Earnhardt Sr. passed away. And Muniz even got to meet The Intimidator.
Muniz, recalling that moment, had said, “So Dale Earnhardt, he came up to me at the driver’s meeting, actually, and he told me ‘I just have to say, I’m a huge fan, your show has brought me and my daughter so much closer.’ I was 15 at the time, I was the hugest NASCAR fan. I was in awe that a hero of mine was saying he was a fan of mine.” And this kind of boosted the dream of someday taking the wheel.
Muniz has come a long way from being a fan of racing to getting a top-10 finish in the Truck Series (2025 Daytona race). “I was always a huge race fan like always enjoyed watching as a kid i didn’t grow up in a family that liked racing… I didn’t know how I’d become a professional driver but it kind of I guess I was lucky in the sense that I got offered a test by a team. I was really fast they signed me to a two-year development deal and the next thing I knew I was a professional race car driver,” Muniz added. His dreams turned into reality in a short time frame, but the hard work he put in was monumental, and he is grateful for everyone who has helped in to achieve his dream.
His efforts have evidently paid off, as in 2025, Muniz has fit into NASCAR like a perfect glove!
Muniz is starting to look like a NASCAR driver
Be it the Truck Series or the Cup Series, NASCAR isn’t an easy sport. It’s both physically and mentally draining. And the veterans today, have run thousands of laps to reach the level they are at. So it was kind of obvious how Frankie Muniz started. He ran two Xfinity Series last season, Phoenix and Daytona, in both he finished outside the top 30. And in the four Truck races he ran last season, Nashville, Kansas, Homestead, and Phoenix, it was the same story. His best was a P29 at Kansas.
And Muniz admitted that it was a struggle. He said, “Definitely, the first couple of races when I started in the NASCAR world two years ago…my heart rate an hour before the race was like 200 and it stayed there the entire time. But I just got exhausted, right? You’re just physically so drained by the end of the race ’cause you’re in that fight mode the whole time.” But fast forward to the current season, he looks like a proper Truck Seris driver.
Three races into the season and he’s already gotten a P10 finish in the Daytona season opener. Then he had a P24 finish in the recent Las Vegas race! We have a feeling that as the season progresses, these finishes will keep getting better. And now even Muniz feels more confident. “Now, I seem more calm when I start the race. I try, during the race, to breathe and make myself kind of stay more in that relaxed state as much as you can at you know, 200 mph. I find it when I’m there. You’re just less tense and you can definitely relax more and make better decisions in those split seconds you need to when you’re not running at a ten the whole time,” Muniz added.
From the glamor of Hollywood to the rigors of racing, Frankie Muniz is determined to excel at doing what he loves. After a promising start to his racing career, we hope that his journey is a fruitful one. One that he can be proud of giving a shot, despite the numerous setbacks throughout his racing career. What do you think? How will he fare in this season? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!
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