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For most millennials like myself, Frankie Muniz will forever be Malcolm—TV’s most overburdened child prodigy. But these days, the guy who once suffered through the chaos of a dysfunctional sitcom family is now hurtling through turns at 180 mph in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. And just like in Malcolm in the Middle, he’s in the driver’s seat of a completely unpredictable ride.
Impressively, he’s doing all of this while juggling the long-rumored Malcolm in the Middle reboot, which is finally happening. The show’s return has been in the works for nearly a decade, and while Muniz is stoked to get the gang back together, he made one thing clear: racing comes first.
“They’re completely working around the NASCAR schedule,” Muniz revealed. “Which I’m so grateful for the producers and Disney for allowing that to happen.”
Yes, Malcolm in the Middle is back, but so is Frankie Muniz, professional race car driver.
Frankie Muniz doesn’t do things halfway. Whether it was dominating TV as a kid, turning down Hollywood for open-wheel racing, or now making a full-time NASCAR run at 39, he’s always been all in.
I talked to Frankie on the latest episode of my Mostly Occasionally show about his love of racing. Watch it on YouTube or listen to it on Apple Podcast or Spotify.
“I’m trying hard. I’m putting in as much effort as I possibly can,” Muniz told me. “Last year was a little weird because I didn’t really know what I was gonna be doing—I was jumping around a bunch of different teams, different series. But knowing that I’m full-time in the truck series? I’ve never been more motivated.”
Muniz isn’t just here to check a box and say he tried NASCAR. He’s out to prove he belongs, and that means there’s no coasting. No excuses.
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“You have to go out there and perform when you have the opportunity,” he said. “I don’t want to look back at this year and go, I could have prepared more. I could have put a little more time in the gym. I could have spent more time with my team.”
Instead, he’s attacking 2025 with the same relentless energy that made him a TV star and a lightning-fast open-wheel prospect back in the 2000s.
“My racing background is a little interesting,” he admitted. “I started really late. I think I’m going to be the oldest rookie in the truck series in history this year. Most of the kids I’m racing are 18, 19 years old. I’m 39.”
But the age gap doesn’t bother him. He’s been here before—thrown straight into deep waters with the best in the world. When he made his open-wheel debut, he was suddenly racing against guys like Daniel Ricciardo, Sebastian Vettel, and James Hinchcliffe before he even knew all the rules.
Now, after a 14-year gap away from competitive racing, he’s thrown himself into the NASCAR world, determined to close that experience gap with nothing but raw effort.
“I don’t care if I crash, I want to beat these dudes,” he said.
You can take the kid out of Malcolm in the Middle, but you can’t take the intensity out of Frankie Muniz.
How did Frankie Muinz get into racing in the first place?
Frankie Muniz never thought he’d be a race car driver. He loved racing—obsessively—but growing up, it felt about as realistic as becoming an astronaut.
“I remember being a kid, like five or six years old, waking up early to watch Formula One, IndyCar, and NASCAR,” Muniz said. “My family wasn’t into racing, so it’s not like I went with them, but it was something I was always passionate about—cars, Matchbox cars, whatever it was, that’s all I cared about.”
But for most kids who dream of racing, that dream starts on the track before they’re even out of elementary school. Muniz? He was still figuring out how to drive stick while filming Agent Cody Banks.
“I was 16 years old, driving a Ferrari Dino on set, and I had no idea how to drive stick,” he admitted. “They were like, ‘What do you mean you can’t drive a stick?’ So they hired this guy to teach me for a few days. Meanwhile, most of the kids I’m racing against now knew how to do that at five years old.”
That was the gap between Muniz and the competition. Most future NASCAR drivers grow up at the track, racing go-karts before they hit double digits. Muniz was a Hollywood star, a kid navigating scripts and film sets, not tire pressures and apexes.
So, for years, the idea of actually becoming a driver never crossed his mind.
“It just didn’t seem like a possibility,” he said. “Like saying you want to be an astronaut. Yeah, kids say that. But how do you actually become one?”
For Muniz, the answer wasn’t Space Camp—it was the Toyota Pro/Celebrity Race, an event where Hollywood stars got to race real cars. That’s where it all changed. And thanks to some prodding from Bryan Cranston, the race that was supposed to be a fun one-off led to Muniz turning his entire career upside down.
“[Cranston] did the pro celebrity race the year before me, and he knew how into cars I was,” Muniz recalled. “He was like, ‘Oh my God, it was the most incredible thing I’ve ever done in my life. You have to do it.’”
Muniz entered the celebrity race, won it, and got hooked.
But his passion for the sport actually went back further than that first lap, back to a surreal encounter at the 2001 Daytona 500.
Muniz was 15 when he met Dale Earnhardt Sr. at the drivers’ meeting before that infamous race. Hours later, Earnhardt died in a last-lap crash, sending shockwaves through the racing world.
“[Earnhardt] told me he was a big fan of Malcolm in the Middle,” Muniz told the show Speed Freaks in 2023. “He said, ‘Your show has brought me and my daughter so much closer.'”
Still, Tthe racing bug bit Muinz hard. He turned down Hollywood projects—including major movie offers—just to chase his racing dream. But after an early run in open-wheel racing, a brutal crash in 2010 sidelined him for 14 years.
Most people would have taken the hint. Muniz? He got back in the car.
“I’ve always felt like there was unfinished business in the racing world,” he said. “And as dumb as it sounds, my son was born, and I was holding him in the hospital, and I remember going, who is my son going to grow up thinking his dad is?”
That existential moment led to a full send into stock cars, where Muniz is now a full-time NASCAR driver.
The Rookie with the Most to Prove
This season, Frankie Muniz isn’t just another celebrity dipping his toes into racing—he’s putting everything he’s got into proving he belongs in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. At 39, he’s one of the oldest rookies in series history, competing against drivers who grew up with a steering wheel in their hands. But Muniz isn’t asking for anyone’s approval. He’s earning it.
“Maybe people assume it’s not for real until you start beating them,” Muniz said. “As soon as you’re beating them, they can’t look at you as just an actor who’s lucky to be there.”
He gets it—motorsports is a tight-knit world. Most of the guys he’s racing have spent their entire lives at the track. He’s the outlier. The Hollywood kid who didn’t start racing seriously until his late 20s, took 14 years off, and then decided to throw himself into stock cars at full speed.
“When I went into ARCA in 2023, I showed up to Daytona, and I’ll be honest—I was petrified out of my mind,” he admitted. “I got there and was like, Why did I do this? Why did I sign up for this? I don’t even know if I can do it. Then I went out for the first practice session, and of the 40 cars, I was P1. And I was like, Yeah, I can do this. Let’s go.”
That first breakout moment shut up the doubters fast. He wasn’t a gimmick. He wasn’t a publicity stunt. He was fast. And in racing, speed is the only thing that matters.
But climbing the NASCAR ranks isn’t just about raw talent—it’s about having the right team, the right equipment, and the right manufacturer behind you. That’s where Muniz feels like he’s in the best position yet. This year, he’s driving with Rette Jones Racing, now backed by Ford Performance—a game-changer for a smaller team looking to take the next step. Muinz tells me that he’s “doing everything I can in the simulator at Ford, here at home,” while juggling fatherhood and his acting obligations.
“My team, Rette Jones Racing, they’ve always kind of been a smaller team, but Josh [Reaume], the owner, and everyone at the team is so passionate about becoming the best they can possibly be,” Muniz said. “They made a lot of changes in the offseason to get to that next level.”
That’s huge. Ford doesn’t just hand out support to anyone. They see something in Muniz. They see his work ethic, his potential, and the fact that he’s not content to just ride around in the back. In our conversation, I joke that you have to go full dog.
He nods and agrees.
“I don’t want to show up with the mindset of I’m here to learn,” he said. “I think I did a little bit of that last year. I was like, I’m here to figure things out. I’ve never done a pit stop. But when you go in with that mindset, you take a little bit of a step back—like, it’s okay to be 30th.”
Muniz is done with that. He’s not here to take notes.
“I need to go back to where I was when I was racing in ARCA—where I showed up thinking, I can win this race. I can beat these guys. Because you drive with a different level of aggressiveness.”
How the Malcom in the Middle reboot is working around Frankie Muinz’s racing schedule
“Maybe you heard, but Malcom In The Middle is coming back,” Muinz tells me.
Indeed, I did. For most actors, landing a reboot of their most iconic role would be the career priority of the year. For Frankie Muniz, it was just another variable in an already packed schedule.
“This is the first time I’m telling anybody this, but they’re completely working around the NASCAR schedule,” Muniz revealed. “I’m so grateful for the producers and Disney for allowing that to happen.”
That’s how intensely devoted he is to having the best possible NASCAR season.
It’s a level of flexibility almost unheard of in Hollywood, but Muniz isn’t your typical returning sitcom star. The Malcolm in the Middle reboot, which has been discussed for nearly a decade, is finally happening—and instead of forcing him to choose between acting and racing, the production is adjusting to keep both on track.
“We’re filming Sunday through Thursdays, with me having Thursdays off to travel to race on Fridays, then flying back Saturday to film,” he said. “So it’s all going to work out pretty good.”
The schedule is tight, but Muniz thrives on that kind of intensity. The reboot is only four episodes, so it won’t pull him away from the NASCAR season for long. Still, it’s a delicate balancing act—one that he refuses to take lightly.
“When I do something, I give it 100%. I don’t want to do it halfway,” he said. “I can’t let racing hinder the reboot, but I also can’t let the reboot hinder my racing.”
Bryan Cranston Has Dad Energy About It
Speaking of Malcom, I ask about Bryan Cranston and if he’s ever taken him for a hot lap spin at 150MPH, like he did for me in a Ford Darkhorse at the Las Vegas Grand Prix. I had no chill about that.
The answer? He has not.
While Muniz is locked in on proving himself on the track, his former TV dad, Bryan Cranston, is watching nervously from the sidelines, even though he got him into racing back in the day in the first place.
“One thing [Cranston] does say is, ‘It’s hard to watch the races because I’m so nervous for you,’” Muniz said. “Like a dad. Like a father figure would.”
That dynamic makes a little too much sense. Muniz is out here throwing himself into 200 mph battles on asphalt, and Cranston—who now narrates Ford commercials—is watching like an overprotective parent.
“It’s kind of funny that I drive for Ford,” Muniz said. “We gotta do something with Ford and get Bryan and me out to do something fun.”
Yes, we do. Imagine Malcolm’s dad clenching the passenger seat while Muniz drifts a Ford Mustang around a track. Someone at Disney, make that a bonus episode.
What’s Next: TV, NASCAR, and Maybe a Malcolm Car?
Between the Malcolm in the Middle reboot and his NASCAR career, Muniz is in for a wild year.
“It’s going to be busy,” he admitted. “But I like to be busy.”
With Disney adjusting its schedule to keep Muniz on track—literally—it’s clear that racing is the priority. But don’t be surprised if Malcolm in the Middle’s return ends up being one of the biggest TV events of the year, especially for a generation like me, an ’80s baby that grew up watching Malcom on Sunday nights after football and The Simpsons.
And if everything lines up, Muniz has one final request.
“I definitely need to be driving the Malcolm in the Middle Disney+ car by the end of the season,” he said.
Somebody get this man a Malcolm-themed race truck.