Actor Frankie Muniz’s NASCAR adventure has gathered more steam, credibility, and even a sense of permanence. He will now be racing full time. After participating in two races this season, he has now secured a full-time role with the team. He’ll be at the wheel of Reaume Brothers Racing’s #33 Ford for the 2025 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series season.
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With two races left this year, Muniz is keen to learn more tricks of the trade. He shared insights into some of the challenges he faced driving NASCAR trucks in a recent conversation with Carla Gebhart on Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s Dirty Mo Media. The trucks tend to behave unpredictably in ‘dirty air’, he said, adding that an overtaking vehicle on the outside can influence the handling.
While racing in Nashville, Muniz didn’t experience this challenge. However, at Kansas, he encountered the ‘dirty air’ effect from the trucks ahead. It was a firsthand lesson in aerodynamics. With two more races at Homestead-Miami Speedway and Martinsville, Muniz is hopeful of deepening his understanding of NASCAR trucks.
He explained, “Have to learn to anticipate what the truck’s going to do. You need to be ahead of it and because I’m experiencing it for the first time I don’t know what it’s going to do.”
“So, that’s part of like why we’re like hey we get a few extra races this year to kind of learn that and be better prepared for next season and that’s what I’m doing. […] You can affect other people’s races so much with your car placement and all that and just kind of trying to figure that out.”
In Nashville, starting from P32, Muniz only managed to gain one spot to finish P31, collecting six points. In Kansas, he improved from P31 to P29 by the end of the race.
Muniz reveals why NASCAR resonates more with him than Hollywood
Despite his successful Hollywood stint, featuring in movies like Deuces Wild, Big Fat Liar, Agent Cody Banks, and Racing Stripes; and starring in the Fox sitcom Malcolm in the Middle — a role that even earned him an Emmy nomination — Muniz always felt somewhat out of place.
Reflecting on his past in Tinseltown, he shared, “I always felt like a little bit of an outsider when I was in Hollywood you know what I mean. I remember I was nominated for an Emmy the first year I think 2001-2002. And I remember showing up to the red carpet and feeling like ‘How did they let me in here?’
Muniz seems to have left the sense of alienation behind, as a diminishing spec on his truck rearview mirror. NASCAR has provided him what he was seeking: a genuine sense of belonging.
