After his Hollywood career slowed down, Muniz shifted gears—literally. But it wasn’t all smooth sailing. People were surprised when he made his ARCA debut at Daytona. Many thought it was just a publicity stunt, assuming he was dabbling in racing for fun rather than seriously competing. But as he has made clear a few times now, he is serious and in for the long haul. But that begs a question: why did Muniz leave Hollywood to get behind the wheel of one of the riskiest sports in the world?

Frankie Muniz breaks down his monumental career change

Muniz’s connection with racing goes way back to the early 2000s as he drove a safety car in 2001 for the Daytona 500. However, this race is remembered for one reason: it saw the sad demise of Dale Earnhardt during a final-lap collision. Muniz even spoke to Earnhardt before the race and got his jacket signed by the legend. “Your show had brought me and my daughter so much closer,” said Earnhardt. The 16-year-old at the time couldn’t believe the love he was getting from his racing idol. 20 years later, Frankie has taken the hot seat himself.

Frankie made his stock car racing debut in 2021 at Kern County Raceway Park in Bakersfield, California, competing in the SRL Pro Late Model series driving for High Point Racing. In a recent conversation, Frankie revealed what really drew him to the world of racing and why he left behind a successful acting career to chase a different kind of adrenaline.

For Muniz, it all started with a childhood passion—Soapbox Derby racing, he told Carla Gebhart, on Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s Dirty Mo Media. “I’ve always had a love for cars,” he shared, reflecting on how racing had been a passion since childhood. “That’s where I got the racing bug, you know, doing the Soapbox Derby.”

But what truly drew him in was the objectivity of racing. “The amazing thing about racing, compared to acting, is it’s not subjective,” Muniz explained. “In acting, you can think you did a great job, you can put your soul into a character, but people might still say, ‘Eh, it was okay.’” With racing, it’s different. “If you’re good, and you belong, you’re at the top of the leaderboard. And you at least can always kind of see where you stand. So I love that.”

Despite his passion, Frankie Muniz faced plenty of skepticism when he announced his return to racing. “I think people thought it was just going to be a publicity thing,” he revealed. “They thought I’d be running in the back, wasting my money.” But Frankie was ready to prove them wrong. In his ARCA debut at Daytona, he made a statement by posting the fastest time in practice. “It was pretty cool to come out with a bang like that,” he said with a grin. “I think it shocked me, so I know it shocked everybody else.”

In Muniz’s mind, the goal isn’t just to be recognized for his past as an actor, but to earn respect on the racetrack. “I don’t want to tell people I’m a race car driver—I want them to see it, to believe it,” he emphasized. “There’s only so much people can say about someone not belonging when they’re beating you, you know?” Keeping up his trend of continuing to prove people wrong, Muniz is now gearing up for a race behind a NASCAR Truck Series car. Let’s take a look at what that’s about.

Frankie Muniz’s first real shot at NASCAR