In case you missed it, Frankie Muniz is racing full-time in the ARCA Menards Series. Yes, the kid from Malcolm in the Middle and Agent Cody Banks is a 37-year-old racing in the NASCAR support series and competing on some of the same tracks as the Cup drivers.
Muniz has racing experience, primarily in the open-wheel ranks, but he recently pivoted to closed-cockpit stock cars in the hopes of forging a NASCAR career.
After three races, Muniz has had a consistent start in his first ARCA season. With finishes of 11th at Daytona and sixth at Phoenix, Muniz was second in points. It’s still early in the season, but Muniz took the lead in the ARCA point standings after finishing ninth at Talladega on Saturday. Muniz leads by three points over Talladega winner Jesse Love.
Muniz was excited after being told he’s in the points lead and noted that he had learned a lot since Daytona.
.@frankiemuniz is unofficially the ARCA points leader after finishing 9th from @TALLADEGA.
“I want to win the championship,” said Muniz, who’s learned a lot between Daytona and now. #GeneralTire200 #ARCA pic.twitter.com/EzmH1E3GRL
— Peter Stratta (@peterstratta) April 22, 2023
What Muniz is doing isn’t spectacular, but he’s keeping himself out of trouble and avoiding crashes. If you have ever watched an ARCA race, avoiding crashes and finishing races is half the battle. Especially when two of the three races were at Daytona and Talladega.
With 17 races remaining, it’ll be a long season for Muniz, but he already has put himself in a position to compete for a championship.
