This year, actor-turned-racecar driver Frankie Muniz embarked on his rookie season in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, driving for Reaume Brothers Racing.
He started the season strong with a top 10 at Daytona International Speedway before facing some growing pains. However, he did post top 20s at Michigan International Speedway (14th) and Pocono Raceway (19th). And all the while, he was juggling the shooting schedule for the Malcolm in the Middle: Life’s Still Unfair, a reboot of the TV series he is perhaps best known for.
But Muniz’s season hit a skid when he broke his wrist from a fall while changing the batteries to his Ring camera at his house. He missed the next four Truck races before returning at Talladega Superspeedway on Oct. 17.
Frontstretch caught up with Muniz at Talladega to talk the time away due to injury, his rookie Truck campaign, his future in NASCAR and balancing racing and shooting a show at the same time. He also discusses his former career as a drummer and why he doesn’t want to pick up a drum stick again.
Michael Massie, Frontstretch: First off, it’s great to see you back here. How does it feel to be back at the track, behind the wheel again?
Frankie Muniz: Feels great. It was Interesting to watch. I obviously couldn’t drive with the injury, but it was mixed feelings, because I wanted to be out there. I wanted to keep driving with my team and continue learning, but had to heal up so I could be here. But I’m happy to be back and know it’s gonna be a fun one today.
Massie: Yeah, you always hear racecar drivers say how painful it is to see someone else drive their car. What was it like watching other people drive your truck?
Muniz: You know, I actually — I’m not saying I enjoyed it — but I used it as a learning experience. I got to listen in on the radio, hear other people give feedback, hear like different ways that people handle that. Which normally, I’m in it, right? So I don’t get to experience other people’s situations. So I use it as a learning experience in that sense.
But no, it was tough, because I wanted to drive, but it wasn’t like I was sitting at home because I had an option to be here. You know what I mean? So it made it easier because I was injured.
Massie: Do you mind telling us the story behind it? I know that you posted on X about it, changing the Ring battery.
Muniz: Just don’t stand on the top step [of a step ladder], and don’t do it in grass. But, yeah, just bad luck. I was just trying to change them [the batteries] real fast and just fell and tried to catch myself and broke my wrist. I’m old. I’m 40, so you know, brittle bone disease or something. I don’t know.
Massie: What was the recovery like for that? Did they have to do surgery on that?
Muniz: No, I didn’t have to have surgery, so just time for it to kind of fuse back up. [I] had a cast on for a while and took it easy. I haven’t gotten time to spend a lot of time at home, so not saying that that was nice, but it was also a break. So I used it to my advantage to be geared up and prepped for these last three weeks of the season.
Massie: You’ve been working with Josh Reaume this year. What’s that team been like, and what’s he like as a team owner?
Muniz: I absolutely love my team. I don’t think there’s a group of harder working guys in this garage, because we have a lot less guys. And they’re doing three trucks, so a lot less guys in the shops. They’re doing double the work, triple the work, and they work really, really hard.
We’ve had a lot of things out of our control, out of my control, out of even the team’s control of things that have gone wrong, like just bad luck. So, it’s tough. I feel like they deserve a good result because of the amount of work they put in, and I wanna give it to them.
But as far as Josh [Reaume], I love Josh. We have such a great relationship. It’s been a hard year, but a great year with the guys that I’m with for sure.
Massie: How would you describe this season as a whole? I know there’s been some ups, been some downs, but pre-injury, how would you describe the season?
Muniz: Yeah, ups and downs. I can live with when we’re just not fast somewhere, like if I struggle or like maybe setup, we’re off a little bit and we race as hard as we can and we finished 28th. What’s hard is when you have a good run going, which we have a lot this year.
We’ve been like in the top 15, top 20, top 15, which for our team and for me is great, and something completely out of our control takes us out of the race. Those sting so much more, because you’re doing everything right. I’ve always said I’d rather crash, I’d rather make a mistake, because it’s easier to live with than like a tire blowing or whatever.
But no, I hate to say I’ve learned a lot, but I have. And I would really like to apply what I’ve learned again next season. We’ll see what we end up doing, but I think it’d be nice just to — I learned so much from the year, just even the racing, going to the tracks for the first time, everything about it.
So yeah, I’d like to try again, but we’ll see what we’re gonna do.
Massie: A little tease there for next year. Are you working on getting back?
Muniz: Yeah, I mean, I’ve got a few options right now in different series, and just being honest, obviously, [I will] continue my relationship with Ford. I take the direction they want to push me in, I’ll go. We’re discussing it all right now. But yeah, I’ve got some options, and we’ll see what happens. But I would like to drive a truck again, so we’ll see.
Massie: So we will see you behind the wheel of something. That’s guaranteed for next year?
Muniz: Oh yeah, 100%. I’ll be racing something for sure. Yeah, we’ll see. I can’t say too much.
Massie: It’s been a busy year for you, doing the full Truck schedule, but you’ve done the Malcolm in the Middle reboot on the side. That’s coming out in two months, I believe?
Muniz: I think they’re saying April. I don’t know 100%. Yeah, so it’ll be out next year. And yeah, it was a tough year, as far as schedule, just being crazy busy. I always hope to be busy, because that means good things usually. But at the same time, I’d really like to just focus on this, like focus on one thing. That’s what everyone else is doing that’s here, right?
Everyone here is just a racecar driver, and they’re focused on being the best racecar driver they can be. So when you’re competing at that level, you’ve got to put in the same amount of time and effort, and when you’re being pulled in different directions, that can make that hard.
So I learned that a little bit this year too, and I’ve got to learn how to say no a little bit more, just in general. I’ve learned that when you have opportunity, it’s good to say yes, because you don’t know when you’re gonna get that opportunity again. But I want to do this, and I really should be focused on that.
Massie: How was balancing that part of the schedule though? Because I know shooting schedules can be extensive, but you also have the full Truck schedule. But I guess the Truck Series does have a lot of off weeks.
Muniz: Yeah, we didn’t when we were filming. We raced every week. It was tough, because I was filming in Vancouver, flying Thursday to race Friday, flying back Saturday to film Sunday through Thursday. It was a lot, but I did it.
If we had some decent results — that was the beginning of our slump of like bad things happening — I would have been like, oh, it was super successful for both of them. It was tough, but [I] got through it.
Massie: Another thing you’ve done on the side in the past is music, and I’m wondering if you still do that at all.
Muniz: I don’t. I miss the band I was in. Our last show I think was like Feb. 13 of 2014. I haven’t touched a drumstick since. I did love it, but no, yeah, not anymore. Don’t have time. I don’t have time to eat, so I don’t definitely have time to be in a band too.
Massie: Well, we saw Will Power on the IndyCar side. He got up and drummed at Tootsie’s, so maybe we can get you doing that sometime.
Muniz: Yeah, my last show was like opening up for Twenty One Pilots at an arena, so it’s hard to like top that. So I’m not gonna go play in my basement, you know what I mean, anymore, so we’ll see what I do.
Massie: We’re at Talladega. The big thing here is Talladega Boulevard. Have you had a chance to explore that at all?
Muniz: I haven’t, but we are staying through the weekend. I’ve got a bunch of friends and family that plan on going out there, so we’ll see. I might make a brief visit just to see what it’s all about for a little bit, but I’m an early-to-bed type of person, so I I don’t count on doing too much.
Michael Massie joined Frontstretch in 2017 and has served as the Content Director since 2020.
Massie, a Richmond, Va., native, has covered NASCAR, IndyCar, SRX and the CARS Tour. Outside of motorsports, the Virginia Tech grad and Green Bay Packers minority owner can be seen cheering on his beloved Hokies and Packers.