Frankie Muniz reveals emotional reason for joining NASCAR

Frankie Muniz has revealed his motivation for the career shift which made him a full-time NASCAR driver.

The Malcolm in the Middle star is in his first full-time NASCAR Truck Series season, driving the Reaume Brothers Racing #33 truck which was occupied by Lawless Alan in 2024.

Muniz's best result of the year came in the season opener at Daytona, grabbing tenth place at the iconic track, but has struggled as the season's gone on, openly questioning his future in the sport.

However, on this week's episode of the Drive podcast with Ford CEO Jim Farley, the 39-year-old opened up on his original motivation for jumping back into the racing world back in 2021.

Muniz: I had unfinished business in racing

Muniz revealed that the birth of his son in the same year was the catalyst for his return to racing, saying: "I literally was holding him, my son, in the hospital bed, and I remember thinking, 'Who is he going to grow up thinking that I am?'"

"Sure, I could say, 'Here's what Daddy used to do, Daddy used to be an actor, Daddy used to do that.' But I wanted him to see me working really hard for something, striving for something, and all the ups and downs that come with it. And I really felt like I had unfinished business in the racing world."

He continued: "[I had] always doing something that I could put effort into and passion into, and in 2021 I was kind of in this in-between state."

Muniz's next race will be the Heart of Health Care 200 at Kansas this coming weekend, where he'll hope to bounce back from a bruising event at Texas.

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