Frankie Muniz explains NASCAR journey, balancing racing with family life

This season, Frankie Muniz embarked on his first full-time season in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series with Reaume Brothers Racing. The 39-year-old rookie had ups and downs during the season with his Ford F-150 race truck. But his passion is still as strong as ever.

Racing for RBR, Frankie Muniz had to make things work with what he had. Determined to use outside sponsorship, Muniz put together the program that he could put together in 2025. There were multiple races where he showed great promise.

At his age, it is strange to be a rookie in the Truck Series. But Muniz hasn’t had the sme journey to NASCAR as so many others. Recently, Muniz opened up about his racing career, why he decided to come back to racing, and how he balances his life as a father and husband.

“The day my son was born, I was actually holding him in the hospital, and I had this weird realization of like, who is my son going to grow up thinking that his dad is?” Frankie Muniz said, via Yahoo Entertainment. “Or like, what he does? Because everything I had done was in my past. Sure, I used to be an actor. I used to be on this TV show, I used to be in a band. I used to own these businesses, I used to race cars.

“That moment made me go like, man, I want him to grow up watching me working really, really hard for something or striving for something, a goal that isn’t easy. And that’s when I decided to go back racing, give NASCAR a shot. I’m in my third full-time year, and I’m also realizing that there’s a lot of negative that comes along with it, too, right? It takes me away from my family, and trying to balance that. Put in the time as I need to as a driver, but also be a good husband and a good father. There’s definitely a balance there that I’m trying to figure out to be good everywhere.”

Kids can make you do wild things. They can even make you want to become a race car driver full-time just years before you turn 40. Frankie Muniz has been a positive for NASCAR, and hopefully, he continues to race in the Truck Series in some capacity.

When you look at the top-10 at Daytona, it is easy to discount it as luck. But P14 at Michigan, P19 at Pocono, P23 at Martinsville (on the lead lap), and P19 at Phoenix in an RBR truck – those are impressive results.

I think Frankie Muniz’s last three races of the season were perhaps the most impressive. He missed weeks with a broken wrist. Then he came back to the truck and had a few of his best performances. I’d love to see Muniz back in any truck. If he had a little more speed and mechanical security, I’d be very interested to see what he could do.