Frankie Muniz is in the middle of his first full-time season in the NASCAR Truck Series. However, for a little over a month, he has been splitting his time between race car driver and actor, reuniting with his “Malcolm in the Middle” cast mates to film a reboot of the popular television show. The crew wrapped up filming this week.
On Friday, the 39-year-old shared on social media that the reboot “experience was straight-up incredible” and “how much I truly love being an actor.”
On Saturday, he put on his helmet, strapped behind the wheel and shifted his focus to short-track racing at North Wilkesboro Speedway. Unfortunately, his experience racing around the 0.625-mile track in the North Carolina foothills wasn’t a pleasant one.
It all started with confusion late in Stage 1 following a restart when NASCAR unexpectedly penalized the No. 33 truck.
“I don’t know. I’m friggin’ confused,” spotter Will Rodgers said over the team radio. “I don’t know why he came down and tapped my shoulder and said fall back.”
“Like what are the rules?” Muniz asked. “Whatever the rules are is what it needs to be.”
For the next several minutes there was confusion with the Reaume Brothers Racing crew as to whether or not the team had been black flagged. Eventually, NASCAR officials communicated that the truck, along with several others, had moved out of line before reaching the start-finish line.
Muniz vehemently disagreed with the ruling.
After wrapping up his filming of the “Malcolm in the Middle” reboot, @frankiemuniz returned to racing action on Saturday at North Wilkesboro Speedway and the No. 33 @RBR_Teams driver and his team were confused and angry following a controversial call by @nascar in Stage 1. pic.twitter.com/6Vfrh91AB3
— Kyle Dalton (@kdsportswriter) May 17, 2025
“There’s no way!” Muniz shouted. “I was right behind the guy in front of me. It was someone else. I was not out of line. I don’t even wanna [expletive] do this anymore. It’s so [expletive] stupid! I’m so sick of this. What do I [expletive] do! They were pointing at the truck behind me.”
A few minutes later, crew chief Pedro Lopez tried to calm his angry driver.
“Frankie, listen to me,” Lopez said. “Let’s keep our head down. We got a whole day left in front of us, alright?”
“I don’t wanna race laps down by my [expletive] self!” the driver responded. “I’m tired of it. I didn’t jump outta line — not at all. There’s no way. I was in third gear. I made a gap. I let them go in front of me.”
“I know. You’re not the first person this has happened to,” Rodgers said.
“But I can’t take it anymore, man,” a frustrated Muniz said. “Like, it’s not like I’m literally doing whatever I can. They should have kept me where I was. Why did they move me to the back behind people who were laps down?”
After completing the final two stages of the race and finishing 29th, a calmer yet dejected Muniz had some final words for his team.
“Sorry guys,” he apologized.
“Hey, we’ll regroup,” Lopez assured him. “Good job keeping your head in it.”
“I just know I didn’t do anything on that restart. I just know it,” the driver reiterated.
Muniz and the Truck Series returns to racing on May 23 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Coverage begins at 8:30 p.m. ET on FS1.
Related: Frankie Muniz Gets Emotional in Raw Interview Discussing Viral Post and His Mental Health
Related: Frankie Muniz Gets Angry, Makes Honest Admission and Team Calms Him Down
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