Frankie Muniz Hospitalized After Daytona Crash Ends Veterans Day Race

Frankie Muniz crashed his race car during a practice lap at Daytona International Speedway on Wednesday and was taken to a Florida hospital. He will not compete in the event he came to race.

Muniz, the former star of Malcolm in the Middle, was scheduled to drive for Team Air Force at Ford's "Proud to Honor Veterans Day Classic." The crash happened while the track was closed to the public, according to Entertainment Tonight. It was practice, not the race. Practice, it turns out, can end your weekend just as thoroughly.

A Ford Racing spokesperson told People that Muniz was "taken to a local medical facility for further evaluation and is awake and alert." That is the full official update. The spokesperson offered no further detail on his condition, which is corporate-speak for: wait.

Representatives for Muniz and Ford Racing did not respond to an immediate request for comment.

Who else was at Daytona?

Bryan Cranston, Muniz's Malcolm in the Middle co-star, was also set to appear at the event to support him, according to ET. The two actors reunited earlier this year in the show's four-episode revival on Disney+. Cranston played the father; Muniz played the son. Now one of them was watching from the sidelines of a speedway.

How serious is Muniz about racing?

Serious enough to reorganize a sitcom around it. Muniz took up racing as a second career in 2006, and he has kept at it through sporadic acting returns throughout the 2020s.

He has raced in NASCAR's Craftsman Truck Series (NASCAR's third-tier national stock car championship) for the last three consecutive seasons. He finished 25th in this year's standings. He filmed the Malcolm in the Middle revival last year around his racing schedule, not the other way around.

Muniz explained the arrangement to Fox Sports' Bob Pockrass last year: "I was the first person that they ever had to work around cause normally like an actor is committed to the acting. But obviously I was a race car driver before they greenlit this show."

That is an unusual inversion of Hollywood physics. Most actors treat motorsport as a hobby with a helmet. Muniz treats acting as the detour.

What happens next?

For now, nothing is scheduled. Muniz is out of the Veterans Day Classic, awake and alert per Ford's statement, and awaiting further evaluation. His Craftsman Truck Series season is behind him. Whether he returns to the track next season, or to a soundstage, will depend on what the hospital says — and on which career, this time, agrees to move its calendar.