Frankie Muniz’s 2025 season has been a rollercoaster. The former Malcolm in the Middle star is now fully immersed in the high-stakes world of the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, piloting the No. 33 Ford for Reaume Brothers Racing. After a standout ARCA Menards Series campaign in 2023, in which he secured a fourth-place points finish, Frankie has hit bumps this season, including mechanical setbacks at Bristol and Rockingham and an early exit from Martinsville.

However, his journey is more than personal ambition; it is a window into a troubling trend in NASCAR. The mounting hurdles smaller teams faced due to constant rule changes and tightening regulations. Muniz’s candid reflections offer an insider’s perspective on how these shifts are increasingly squeezing out under-funded teams.

Frankie Muniz reflects on the scope of smaller teams competing

Muniz’s racing routes go deep. His motorsport journey began with celebrity events like the 2004 Toyota/pro celebrity race, where he finished seventh, and then third in 2005, catching the racing bug. He raced in Formula BMW USA in 2006 before wrist surgery and a hiatus. Throughout the 2010s, he returned sporadically in celebrity and late model events, then pivoted fully to stock cars in 2021, making a big splash in ARCA by 2023 with Rette Jones Racing, clinching fourth in the standings, 11 top tens, and a top five at Michigan International Speedway.

In 2025, Frankie stepped into the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series full-time with Reaume Brothers Racing, marking a career leap. While the early season was rocky, grappling with mechanical failures that marred finishes, he has displayed flashes of brilliance, often qualifying mid-pack and pushing for top 20 results in a field dominated by powerhouse teams. Despite occasional podium-distance runs, Frankie admits the season has been humbling. He went on to say, “The string of disappointment has left me feeling ‘ cursed or something,’” but it is his candid comments on the state of the NASCAR Truck Series that strike a chord.

Speaking on the Beating and Banging podcast, Frankie Muniz didn’t hold back on how it is tough for smaller teams to compete. He says, “You know, NASCAR, I’m not bashing them, but you know, they change the rules kind of every week, and kind of how they feel during the day. I know there was a rule yesterday that they implemented that, um, I guess I won’t speak on, but my team owner was not happy about it because it’s one of those things where, like, you almost feel like they don’t want you to come. You know what I mean?”

An article by Dalton Hopkins of Frontstretch spoke to 5 Truck Series owners to get their views on the state of the series. And some of the responses were not what you want to hear from a NASCAR-sanctioned series. “Anyone that has any kind of business sense … can look at a balance sheet and say, ‘This is a nightmare,’” a team official told Frontstretch. “This is a complete dumpster fire. Get out, get out, get out. … I’m not trying to be dramatic, I don’t know how this Truck Series is going to survive, other than it’s just a rich man’s playground.”

Echoing this sentiment, Frankie Muniz added, “Because, like, I feel like they forget that we’re customers in the end. Like we’re paying to be there, you know what I mean? Like, they kind of make it harder and harder for the smaller teams to show up or want to show up and compete, you know? So, uh, we’ll see… It’s not my place to talk about it because it doesn’t necessarily affect me.”

The payouts for the Truck Series races in 2025 are abysmal when compared to the Xfinity Series. While comparing it to Cup is quite futile since the amount of revenue the top tier brings in is vastly more, Trucks should be able to at least be near or close to the Xfinity Series. However, just taking the season opener at Daytona, for example, according to a source as per Frontstretch, the Xfinity cars that finished 31-35 at Daytona in February were given $4000 as a bonus. Meanwhile, the Truck Series racers who finished 21-25 were given $1000, while the rest of the field finishing after 25th left empty-handed.

It’s evident that Muniz’s gripe is not coming from a place of bias; it’s a general sentiment surrounding NASCAR’s third tier, and if things go on the same way, you might see less and less of newer teams and younger drivers even attempting to make it through that pipeline. Luckily for Frankie, he had the right people around him who propelled his rise through the ranks.

Muniz opens up about his ARCA Menards breakthrough

Frankie Muniz’s full-time ARCA career in 2023 was born out of a leap of faith and a willingness to grind. His journey from local late models to a full ARCA schedule with Rette Jones Racing is a study in persistence and determination. While he didn’t grab a win, his rookie year proved his mettle. He held his own against young hotshots and seasoned campaigners alike, laying the foundation for his transition into the national NASCAR ranks.

By May 2021, he reached out to Tim Huddleston of Irwindale Speedway, his first real entry into the stock car world. Huddleston invited him to test locally and run a few late-model races at Irwindale and Kern Raceway, where Frankie consistently qualified in the top five. Muniz goes on to recall, saying, “So, I just started talking to him because it was just like the only contact I had in the stock car world because I’d never been in it. And I was kind of just asking him questions of like what I could do. And he’s like, “Hey, well just come out to Irwindale and do some tests and we’ll put you in some late model races.” And then he’s like, “If you want to go ARCA racing,” he’s like, “I have an ARCA car. We could do ARCA West. We could do—we could do whatever.”

The partnership gave him the platform to transition into professional stock car racing. From Daytona to Talladega and throughout the ARCA series circuit. The then-rookie maintained a top-tier consistency and averaged 11th in race finishes, accumulating one career-best top five and 11 top tens across 20 starts. Muniz added, “So, that’s kind of where it started. And I got to do—I want to say maybe I did like five or six late model, like pro late model races at Irwindale and Kern Raceway and—and, uh, I was always kind of in the top five, top three, you know, in qualifying and in the races there and, you know, felt like pretty good for my first times in—in stock cars.”

Despite racing only one season full-time, Muniz impressed many with his ability to stay competitive amid mechanical gremlins and learning on short tracks. At Daytona, he led initial practice and climbed from 24th to 11th in the final laps, putting in a debut performance that drew widespread attention. He earned a career-best fifth-place result at Michigan and regular top 10s at short track venues like Phoenix, Boston’s Berlin raceway, and Elko Speedway. Each race sharpened his skill and built credibility as a legitimate racer, not just a celebrity with the steering wheel. Let’s hope he can turn his season around in the Truck Series as he looks to carve a career in motorsports.