You Guessed It: ‘Malcolm In The Middle’ Star Frankie Muniz Is Suddenly Rebranding As A NASCAR Driver

They say there are no second acts in America. But just look at Frankie Muniz. As a kid, he was the star of one of the early aughts’ most popular and groundbreaking sitcoms: Malcolm in the Middle, which revamped the family comedy as a single-camera yukfest. Nowadays Muniz is in his late 30s, which means it’s time to try something else. Surely, though, few were expecting him to rebrand as a racecar driver.

Excited for this opportunity with Rette Jones Racing, Ford, and our partners to go full time racing for an ARCA National Series Championship in 2023. pic.twitter.com/OhbFnlMNKW

— Frankie Muniz (@frankiemuniz) January 11, 2023

On Wednesday, as per People, the erstwhile Cody Banks out of nowhere revealed he’ll be behind the wheel of the No. 30 Ford Mustang for Rette Jones Racing, competing in mid-February for ARCA Menards Series championship, which begins at Daytona International Speedway.

It doesn’t appear to be a lifetime dream. Muniz said he “caught the bug of wanting to be a driver” back in 2004, when he was still a teenager and still a couple years from leaving Malcolm in the Middle. The idea of actually doing something about it “hit me when I had my son,” who was born in March of 2021.

“I want him to grow up seeing me reach for my dreams and work hard for something that I’m passionate about, and the one world where I feel like I still have unfinished business was the racing world,” Muniz told People. “So I’m going to go racing.”

It’s a new world for Muniz, but he’s cautiously optimistic. “I have a lot to learn and I know that,” Muniz said. “But I’m going in, I’m putting in a hundred percent because I don’t wanna look back at this opportunity and go, man, I wish I tried harder.”

Muniz admits that, at 37, he has “a steep learning curve” to face. But you know Good for him. Hopefully it won’t eat into the threatened Malcolm reunion being scripted by his former TV dad, Bryan Cranston. But maybe it’ll catch Lizzo’s attention.