TRUCKS: Catastrophic loss of oil pressure leaves Frankie Muniz in last place for first time in NASCAR career
by Brock Beard / LASTCAR.info Editor-in-Chief
PHOTO: Steven Taranto, @STaranto92
Frankie Muniz picked up the 1st last-place finish of his NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series career in Friday’s Rackley Roofing 200 at the Nashville Superspeedway when his #33 Buy American Veteran Ford fell out with engine trouble after 2 of 150 laps.
The finish came in Muniz’ 16th series start. In the Truck Series’ last-place rankings, it was the 10th for the #33, the 134th for Ford, and the 143rd from engine trouble. Across NASCAR’s top three series, it was the 54th for the #3, the 1,066th for Ford, and the 1,156th from engine trouble.
While his career in Hollywood is well-documented, Muniz has also harbored an intense desire to become a competitive race car driver. Both pursuits crossed paths on that fateful afternoon of February 18, 2001, in FOX Sports’ first-ever broadcast of the Daytona 500. It was Muniz’ starring role on the sitcom “Malcolm in the Middle” that got him into the garage area, where he met Ken Schrader, Sterling Marlin, and Dale Earnhardt, then rode in the pace car. Incredibly, Muniz’ first ARCA start at Daytona in 2023 came driving the same chassis Marlin ran that day, now fielded by Mark Rette. Muniz finished 11th that day, and went on to score a 5th-place finish at Michigan and 11 top-ten finishes.
Muniz’ climb up the NASCAR ladder followed in 2024, again at Daytona, and this time driving for Emerling-Gase Motorsports. There, crash damage from an early multi-car incident put him out of the race in 33rd, followed by a 30th at his home track in Phoenix and a DNQ in Portland after a blown engine sent him spinning just two laps into practice. Frustrated, and seeking a fresh start, Muniz took some time off before his first Truck Series attempt – interestingly, at this very Nashville track. And though he finished just 31st, Muniz was excited by the series, and soon landed a full-time ride with the Reaume Brothers Racing team that fielded his truck that day.
In his third season opening weekend at Daytona, Muniz earned his first career top-ten finish, coming home a strong 10th. But in the weeks since, there’s been more bad luck than good for he and the #33 team. His best finish since has been a 23rd at Rockingham, and he entered Friday’s race with five DNFs in the 11 races run so far. Interestingly, this has also coincided with new acting opportunities. He recently finished shooting the reboot of “Malcolm” with his old cast members, and just this week tweeted his hope of landing a role in a rumored sequel to “Days of Thunder.”
For Nashville, Muniz would run a patriotic red, white, and blue scheme for Buy American Veteran, a rebranding of Tennessee-based ASE Direct, Inc., which was founded in 2005 by retired U.S. Army Officer Bo Clift. Persistent rain cancelled qualifying, placing Muniz 27th on the starting grid. In practice, he turned 45 laps, but ranked slowest of the 32 entrants, clocking in at just 31.766 seconds (150.727mph), 1.7 seconds off the top speed, but just 0.038 off the next-slowest entry of Tyler Tomassi, one of his teammates this week, in the #22 Levrack Ford.
Securing the 32nd and final starting spot was Akinori Ogata, back in his own #63 YKK AP America Toyota for the first time since his Akinori Performance team made its debut in Homestead. Ogata managed to rank 27th in practice, but with qualifying cancelled, his part-time team took the last spot by the rule book. He’d be joined at the tail end by 13th-place starter Stewart Friesen after an engine change on his #52 Halmar International Toyota. Other last-minute work on pit road by Bayley Currey’s crew (changing the alternator, according to Steven Taranto), did not drop the #44 AutoVentive / Precision Chevrolet from 6th on the grid.
When the green flag dropped, Ogata was last across the stripe, 3.523 seconds back of the lead with 30th-place starter Toni Breidinger in the #5 818 Tequila Toyota 3.183 behind now in the 31st spot, the penalized Friesen now up to 30th, showing 2.824 behind. By the end of Lap 1, Ogata had climbed past Breidinger, who showed 5.848 seconds back of the lead, when the first caution fell.
Coming to the line, Muniz dropped off the pace, nearly taking last at the stripe, with smoke trailing from his truck. Both Muniz and his spotter noticed the issue at nearly the same time, Muniz reporting a complete loss of oil pressure. The #33 pulled onto pit road on Lap 3, showing 20.145 seconds back of the lead. He completed Lap 2 as he was pitted in Stall 21, just past the garage entrance at the start/finish line, and was then pushed through that entrance, where his truck was put up on jack stands. There, on Lap 7, FS1’s cameras revealed a tell-tale smear of brown liquid on the TV panel of the #33.
The crew would discover a Wiggins clamp came loose on an oil line, causing his truck to dump oil around the entire track. The resulting caution took eight laps to clean up before the race restarted on Lap 11. The question now was whether the issue was worth repairing. The team talked with representatives from engine provider Ilmor, and reported their engines usually failed after running without oil pressure for 10 seconds. The team estimated the truck ran with no pressure for around 20 seconds. By Lap 22, the team debated about whether or not to call it a night, then ultimately decided on Lap 24. The crew unbolted the truck’s tires and cleaned them off so they could be re-used, replacing them with the shop wheels. It wasn’t until Lap 67 that he was declared the first – and ultimately only – truck out of the race.
Ogata climbed no higher than 31st, the rear of his truck damaged in a Turn 3 spin trying to avoid a spinning Jack Wood on Lap 55. Wood recovered to finish 20th in his #91 Adaptive One Calipers Chevrolet while Ogata was six laps down, on the same lap as 30th-place Breidinger. Completing the Bottom Five were the only two trucks to finish three laps down – Tyler Tomassi, Muniz’ teammate in the #22, and the #02 GMS Chevrolet of a returning Nathan Byrd.
LASTCAR STATISTICS
*This marked the first last-place finish for the #33 in a Truck Series race since August 13, 2022, when Nick Leitz’ #33 Impact Logistics Chevrolet finished the Richmond race under power, 41 laps down at the checkered flag. The number had never before finished last in a Truck race at Nashville.
*Muniz is not the earliest exit from a Truck Series race at Nashville. Four other occasions saw the last-place finisher complete just one lap, and on August 8, 2003, Willie Green’s ignition troubles on the #83 Quaker Steak & Lube Ford kept him from turning a single lap.
THE BOTTOM FIVE
32) #33-Frankie Muniz / 2 laps / engine
31) #63-Akinori Ogata / 144 laps / running
30) #5-Toni Breidinger / 144 laps / running
29) #22-Tyler Tomassi / 147 laps / running
28) #02-Nathan Byrd / 147 laps / running
2025 LASTCAR TRUCK SERIES OWNER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Reaume Brothers Racing (5)
2nd) Front Row Motorsports, Norm Benning Racing (2)
3rd) Freedom Racing Enterprises, Henderson Motorsports, Niece Motorsports (1)
2025 LASTCAR TRUCK SERIES MANUFACTURER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Ford (7)
2nd) Chevrolet (5)
2025 LASTCAR TRUCK SERIES DRIVER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
