How Frankie Muniz Came Full Circle in NASCAR, From Meeting Dale Earnhardt to Racing Himself

Frankie Muniz will be a part of the documentary that NASCAR Studios and Fox Sports will be releasing on February 12, ahead of the 25th anniversary of the 2001 Daytona 500 that killed Dale Earnhardt Sr. The racer-turned-actor was one of the last people to speak to the Intimidator that day, and this makes it vital at this juncture to look back at how his career has progressed since.

Muniz was the star of the television show Malcolm in the Middle and was at Daytona that year to serve as the honorary pace car driver. It was the first year of Fox Sports’ broadcasting deal with NASCAR, and the channel was using the opportunity to promote the show. Before the race, Muniz had the opportunity to speak with Earnhardt. He spoke about this in length on the SpeedFreaks podcast.

He said, “Dale Earnhardt came up to me at the driver’s meeting, actually. And he told me, ‘I just have to say, you know, I’m a huge fan. Your show has brought me and my daughter so much closer.’ And I was 15 at the time. I was like the hugest NASCAR fan. I was in awe that a hero of mine was saying that they were a fan of mine.”

Before climbing into the car, Earnhardthad once again told him that he loved the show and that he was a big fan of Muniz. We all know what happened next. Muniz had been seated at Ken Schrader’s pit box wearing an M&M jacket that had the signatures of Earnhardt, Schrader, and Sterling Marlin. Eerily, these three were the ones involved in the late race accident that ended badly.

All this came full circle for Muniz when he started his racing career in 2023. He made his debut in the ARCA Menards Series, and the chassis of the car that he drove in his first race happened to be the one from the car that Marlin drove at the 2001 Daytona 500.

He said about this, “At first, it kind of, I don’t want to say creeped me out. It was a little eerie to think about when you put all those pieces together, you know, but it made me actually feel like I’m exactly where I’m supposed to be in my life. You know what I mean?”

Muniz is currently a full-time driver in the Craftsman Truck Series. He drives the No. 33 truck for Team Reaume and announced this week on social media about bringing Lucid Trading as a multi-race sponsor.

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