LEBANON, Tenn.: The highly anticipated return of Ford Performance driver Frankie Muniz to NASCAR action is set to take place Friday night at Nashville (Tenn.) Superspeedway. Muniz, known for his roles in popular TV shows, is making his NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series debut in the Rackley Roofing 200 for Reaume Brothers Racing, a significant milestone in his racing career.
Muniz, with unwavering determination, is turning to the immensely popular Truck Series to reset his season, which he admits has mostly been full of disappointment.
An early season accident at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway in his Xfinity Series debut followed up with a miserable showing at his hometown track of Phoenix (Ariz.) Raceway.
The light shined on the former “Malcom in the Middle” television actor with a return trip to the ARCA Menards Series at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway with an impressive performance and a ninth-place showing for Rette Jones Racing.
Reality soon returned at Portland International Raceway where a blown motor on Lap 2 of practice set him to the garage and made him unable to qualify, ultimately keeping Muniz from making the Xfinity Series field.
After a few weeks of reflection on his 2024 season, Muniz is returning to the track with a renewed sense of optimism, radiating from his every move. He is appreciative of the opportunity and is determined to deliver a strong performance in the upcoming race.
“Oh, I’m very excited,” Muniz said Friday afternoon at Nashville Superspeedway. “Actually, this year has not been the most fun for me as far as racing goes, but I’m excited to be somewhere new and in a new truck with a new team.
“I don’t know, I feel I felt really good. I woke up. I’m on the right side of the bed, I guess, today, so we’ll see how it goes. But excited to be here.”
When asked for his goals behind Josh Reaume’s No. 22 Ford Performance Ford F-150, Muniz insisted his plan is still to learn as much as he can. While finishing as high as he can is essential, Muniz reiterated that seat time is crucial not only for his remaining race plans for the rest of the season but looking ahead to next year.
“I think that’s been the goal of this year in general is just to kind of drive as much as I can and just continue to learn,” added Muni. “I know, I still have so much to learn. I feel like I’ve been saying that for two years.
“But I do. I’m still very behind as far as starts go and a number of starts and, and kind of experience, but, you know, really important, I want to make the race, I want to run all the laps and just keep learning.
“I know that’s pretty vague. As a driver, I want to say I want to go out and win. But, I got to be realistic that just got to get to know the team know the truck and, and just be ready for more prepare for the next one.”
With just a short 20-minute practice to get accumulated not only with the truck but Nashville’s 1.33-mile concrete oval, Muniz says after conferring with his team engineer is to dial in as many laps as possible and have a good pace leading into qualifying.
“We were just talking about that, I want to run as many laps as possible,” he explained. “You know, I’m not one of the type of people who can go out and just put like a fast lap on that one.
“I mean, I just want to get kind of buildup get more and more comfortable as I go. So just run as many laps as we can, just getting that experience kind of feeling with it with the truck does what it’s like around other trucks and stuff like that.”
Of course, Muniz would like more track time before Friday night’s contest, but his confidence remains strong.
“I wish we had more practice, you know, definitely hear for someone like me coming into it. But no, I feel I feel good. I feel confident. We’ve got a lot of time in the same at Ford and, so I feel like we’ve learned a lot there as a team, and hopefully, we can apply it and do well.”
Muniz arrived in Nashville where Arizona was a scorching 117 degrees, Muniz says being at the track on Friday, the temperatures in the mid-90s swizzled with humidity made it feel much warmer than home.
Although Muniz is a small person in stature, he is ready to beat the heat with his preparations, which began earlier this week.
“I mean, I’m from Arizona. I left there’s 117 yesterday, but I promise you it’s hotter here because of the humidity, so I’ve been trying to hydrate and all that,” explained Muniz. “But fortunately, hopefully, the sun goes down. Hopefully, it will go down quickly after the restarts, and it will cool down a little bit. But we’ll see.”
One of the popular tracks on NASCAR’s schedule, Muniz wasn’t sure which division he would be participating in on Friday night but noted this weekend had been circled on his calendar from the start of the year.
“To be honest, Nashville was a race that was circled for us at the beginning of the year, we didn’t know it was gonna be a truck or Xfinity car, but I’m ready to race with Reaume Brothers Racing in the truck. And here we are.”
Graduating from ARCA to the Xfinity Series at the beginning of the year indeed turned a lot of heads. Many questioned whether or not Muniz was up for the challenge.
Even Muniz admits the change has been more of a challenge at times but insists he’s here to improve his craft against some of the sport’s best. To beat the sport’s best, you have to compete
against them – even if the road to get to the top is rocky.
“Last year when I entered ARCA, I don’t think anyone had any expectations for me, even myself, I didn’t know what to expect,” Muniz spoke. “I think we did fairly well in ARCA. That said moving up to the Truck Series, moving to Xfinity, it’s a whole different ballgame. You know what I mean? There’s not a single bad person that’s in that series or bad car, but if I want to be racing with the best, I have to be racing with the best, right?
“That’s the only way to really learn. So, you kind of have to throw yourself off the deep end a little bit. And, and adapt. And that’s what I’m trying to do as quickly as possible.”
Nashville has the opportunity to open a door for Muniz. He is looking to the Music City to get his groove and confidence back ahead of a summer and fall that will be sprinkled with various levels of stock car competition.
“I’m gonna be 100% honest, I don’t think I learned anything in the few Xfinity races I did,” Muniz admitted. ”I might have unlearned stuff, if that makes sense. I kind of lost a bit of confidence. Just even situations that weren’t necessarily my control at Daytona and then even Portland where the motor blew up on lap two of practice.
“So, I think that’s my biggest thing this weekend. I want to make the race, I want to run all the laps. I want to feel like I’m racing against some people and like be competitive in that sense. I need that just to make sure I still have it inside me.
“I haven’t had the opportunity this year to show that at all. And that’s what I think I’m looking most forward to tonight in the truck in Nashville.”
Following Nashville, Muniz’s current racing plans involve competing in the ARCA Menards Series race at Michigan International Speedway in August, the Truck Series races at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway and Kansas Speedway in September, and for Salisbury, N.C.-based Reaume Brothers Racing.
Follow Chris Knight on X (Twitter) @Knighter01 or email at [email protected].
