Frankie Muniz is known to most people as an actor, but Malcolm in the Middle The star's love of car racing almost extends to his acting career. Next year, fans can get used to seeing him on the race track instead of on the screen.
On October 22, NASCAR team Reaume Brothers Racing announced that it had signed a contract to have Muniz as a full-time driver for the 2025 season of the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. This marks a significant step in Muniz's racing career as he moves into a full-time position at Reaume Brothers after competing part-time throughout the 2024 season.
It is an honor for Muniz to drive the team's Ford F-150 in races.
“I am incredibly excited to join Reaume Brothers Racing full-time in 2025,” the actor said in a statement. “My long-standing relationship with Ford has been a game-changer and I am excited to help provide the additional support that allows us to leverage their outstanding technical and engineering resources. I believe this synergy will elevate Reaume Brothers Racing and help us achieve great things together. To get started I can't wait.”
Team owner Josh Reaume is equally excited about the development of partnerships with Muniz and Ford. “We are excited to welcome Frankie to our team full-time and expand our relationship with Ford Performance,” he said. “Their support has been invaluable and we believe that with Frankie's passion and our collective momentum this year we can make significant progress next season.”
While the career move may be shocking to some, those who have followed Muniz for years know that race car driving has long been a passion of his. In 2001, Muniz drove the pace car of the Daytona 500 when he was just 15 years old; Coincidentally, he also met Dale Earnhardt before the race where the legend crashed on the last lap and died.
Muniz's racing career began unofficially in 2004 when he participated in the Toyota Pro/Celebrity Race. He signed a two-year deal with Jensen Motorsport as a driver and competed in 14 races in the 2006 Formula BMW USA season. He graduated from the Champ Car Atlantic Series in 2007 and competed in the entire 12-race season. He later signed with Pacific Coast Motorsports in 2008 and Team Stargate Worlds in 2009. After competing in the 2011 Toyota Pro/Celebrity Race, Muniz took a step back from racing for a while.
Muniz made his stock car racing debut in October 2021 with High Point Racing for the SRL Pro Late Model series. He raced for Fast Track Racing in the ARCA Menards Series test at Daytona International Speedway in January 2022. A year later, Muniz announced that he would join Rette Joins Racing full-time. He made his NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series debut earlier this year with Reaume Brothers Racing.
If you want to see Muniz behind the wheel again, tune in to the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series playoffs on October 26 at 12pm ET on FS1.