Why isn't Frankie Muniz racing today in the Portland Xfinity race? All you need to know

Actor-turned-racer Frankie Muniz is set to miss the NASCAR Xfinity race at Portland International Raceway. This would have been Muniz's third race behind the wheels of the #35 Ford this season.

Muniz drives part-time for the Joey Gase Motorsports in the Xfinity Series. He made his Xfinity debut earlier this year at the iconic Daytona International Speedway, where he was classified at P33 with a DNF. A few weeks later, on his second start in NASCAR's second-tier division at Phoenix Raceway, Muniz's outing didn't go as planned, courtesy of another DNF.

As the Xfinity Series heads toward the 13th race of the season for the Pacific Office Automation 147 race, the Hollywood actor turned NASCAR driver faced another setback. Muniz's Ford blew an engine in the practice before the qualifying.

He took this news to X (formerly Twitter) and wrote:

"Well... I won't be racing in Portland today. We blew the motor 2 laps into practice. Hard to keep my head up and stay motivated."

The 38-year-old was the star of the hit show Malcolm In The Middle. He competed full-time in 2023 as a driver for Rette Jones Racing in the ARCA Menards Series and finished fourth in the standings.

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Frankie Muniz wants to be the "best race car driver"

Before the second start in his Xfinity career at Phoenix Raceway, Joey Logano, Daniel Suarez, and broadcaster Jamie Little radioed Muniz from the Fox booth. Muniz talked about his professional career, from being an actor to being a professional racer.

"To be honest I'm just kind of thinking that my life is crazy right now, like I can't believe I'm here. I'm thrilled I made the race. I'm so excited. I'm here to learn, I want to run all the laps."

Muniz also derived an analogy from golf when talking about becoming the "best race car driver."

"I treat this to be like playing golf, if you want to golf the best, you play with better golfers than you. I wanna be the best race car driver, so I'm here racing with the best race car drivers and hopefully I do ok," Muniz said.