Frankie Muniz’s NASCAR Truck Series race at Texas Motor Speedway ended in disappointment for the driver after his front-right tire blew, forcing him into the outside wall. This is his fourth DNF of this season alone.

Despite his Malcolm in the Middle schedule getting in the way of any simulator practice work for Muniz and him having no experience at this track whatsoever, he was able to put in a solid start to the race.

His No. 33 Reaume Brothers Racing Ford F-150 ran in the top 15 during the second stage of the Texan race, but a sudden tire failure sent him crashing into the wall, ending his race and leaving him questioning his career in racing.

As it happened, he unleashed his anger over his team radio.

“Dammit!” he shouted. “How do I have this luck, man? I’m so tired of it!”

Following the race, Muniz was able to reflect on his campaign without the red mist hanging over him.

“I consider myself lucky to have the opportunity to do it, but at the same time, I feel like, you know, honestly, why am I here? Honestly, that’s the truth,” he admitted.

“I just don’t know why I’m risking my safety and my family and all the other things. Things that I’m turning down to be here and for what? To crash at 190 miles an hour.”

This crash is just one more in what has been a challenging season so far. Unfortunately for the driver, many of these DNFs have been down to a mechanical failure or other things out of his control.

“Just right front blew. I just, I cannot, I can’t catch a break,” Muniz continued. “You know what I mean? Let me wreck dudes, let me wreck myself, let me feel like I did something wrong but I… it’s hard to keep coming.

“And like, it’s not my team, it’s none us, it’s out of our control, and things just keep happening, and it’s really – it’s tough to stay motivated.”

It’s fair to say that his responsibilities as an actor is making it difficult. While NASCAR is his number-one passion, his work on TV alongside the likes of Bryan Cranston sees him divided.

“Honestly, I’ve got so much going on right now, and I’m like, man, give me a win. Like a win, like, feeling like we finished the race, I thought we were racing good and you know, doing alright. Just out of my control again. I’m over it, to be honest.”

The term “spoiler” was more apt than either Ryan Preece or Joey Logano knew after they both finished in the top five in last Sunday’s Jack Link’s 500 at Talladega Superspeedway.

Subsequently, during post-race inspection, infractions involving that key part of the car spoiled excellent runs and resulted in the disqualification of both their cars.

On Logano’s fifth-place No. 22 Team Penske Ford, a nut was missing from a bolt connecting a brace (specific to superspeedway cars) that holds the rear spoiler firmly in place. The missing nut itself is cause for disqualification, as it violates a rule that mandates all components being in place for the entire race.

After Preece’s No. 60 Roush Fenway Keselowski Ford failed pre-race inspection once, along with more than 29 other cars, his team inserted a third shim (a thin metal part that runs the length of the spoiler and sits between the base and the spoiler blade) to correct the amount of deflection to legal limits (1.5 degrees).

Only two shims are allowed under NASCAR rules, and Preece was disqualified from second place because of the infraction.

“Pretty cut-and-dried, black-and-white,” said NASCAR Cup Series director Brad Moran. “Unfortunate. The 60 had a great race. Same with the 22. But we have to do our job to keep the parity in the field.

“Everybody knows the rules. This is our job to find things like this and clean it up.”

Preece was driving his motor home when he heard the news of the disqualification.

“I was about an hour-and-a-half, two hours in when I got the call that we got disqualified, and the next four hours were pretty miserable,” Preece said before Saturday’s Cup practice at Texas Motor Speedway.

“It was just an oversight, to meet their rule and get through tech. But it is a rule.”

Saturday afternoon in double-overtime after 11 cautions, 2021 NASCAR Cup Series champion Kyle Larson claimed his second win of the year in NASCAR’s second-tier series as an unexpected ringer for JR Motorsports.

Midweek, Kyle Larson got the call asking him to sub in for Connor Zilisch in the JR Motorsports No. 88 for the Andy’s Frozen Custard 300 at Texas Motor Speedway. Zilisch suffered a back injury on the final lap at Talladega last week, and while he was first reported to be just sore and OK to race, his team came to the decision to have him sit out the week heading into the Xfinity Series break.

Ultimately, Larson would lead 32 of 208 laps to beat Sam Mayer to the line by 1.265 seconds.

Austin Hill and Justin Allgaier were the Xfinity Series’ best chance of keeping Larson at bay. Kyle Larson recently shared that when he races in the Xfinity Series, his goal is to embarrass the full-time drivers to prepare them for the next level.

In the final stage, Justin Allgaier was the first big contender to lose their chance after leading 99 laps and winning the opening stage. Allgaier was coming up on Chris Wright several laps down when Wright changed his line multiple times, and Allgaier had no chance of avoiding the much slower car.

With Allgaier out of the way, Larson won the restart against Austin Hill and was pulling away in the final stage when more drivers started getting snake-bit by the Texas track.

Hill fell to Nick Sanchez, and Larson pulled away to six seconds ahead of the field, With 15 laps remaining, Hill gets by Sanchez to try and reel in Larson. Hill secured his sixth stage win, the most of any driver in the Xfinity Series this season.

With 12 laps in regulation, Corey Day crashed from a top 15-spot,

and Larson’s No. 88 team decided that tires were more important than position. Sanchez and Hill both stayed out. Larson restarted seventh and was in fourth by the first turn, pushing Sam Mayer to the lead by the backstretch and almost securing second when he went too high and fell back to fourth, then passed for third before the 10th caution flag waved this time for Sammy Smith getting into the wall.

Smith had rebounded from an accident on lap seven to be running in the top ten at the end of regulation. On the restart, Sanchez took the outside in order to keep Larson away from the front row and maybe secure help from the Cup Series vet in pushing him to his first Xfinity Series win and only the second win for Big Machine Racing.

Larson made it by Sanchez and was firmly in second when Jeremy Clements hit the wall, bringing on double overtime.

Tanner Gray started behind Mayer and Sanchez behind Larson on the final restart. Gray drove into Mayer’s back bumper, causing too much wiggle. Larson was easily able to take the lead with his fresh tires from the Day caution 16 laps earlier. The white flag secured Larson’s lead and the checkered flag his victory.

“There was a lot of survival throughout that race, dodging some wrecks, balance we had to work on quite a bit,” Larson told The CW Sports’ Kim Coon. “It was fun, I felt like my car, if I could ever get to the lead, I could stretch out. I just couldn’t get by Justin; he was doing a good job of running where I needed to be.”

Larson added that he wished that Connor would’ve been able to experience that race, but was happy to be the one trusted with the call.

“Obviously, I wish Connor were in the car, but it means a lot that they thought of me to call up to run this thing,” Larson added.

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Kyle Larson wasn’t even supposed to be racing in the NASCAR Xfinity Series this weekend. However, when news broke mid-week about Connor Zilisch being sidelined with a lower back injury (following a wreck at Talladega), Larson was the driver selected to fill the vacant JR Motorsports seat.

“Yeah, there was a lot of survival throughout that race,” said Larson. “Just dodging some wrecks, and the balance — we had to work on (it) quite a bit. It was fun. I felt like my car — if I could ever get to the lead, I could stretch out. But I just  couldn’t get by Justin [Allgaier]. He was doing a good job of just running where I needed to be. But thanks to JRM for letting me come run this thing here today. Obviously, wish Connor was in the car but it means a lot that they thought of me to call up and run this thing.”

Taylor Gray finished second, Riley Herbst third, Austin Hill fourth, and Sam Mayer fifth. Harrison Burton, Jesse Love, Ryan Sieg, Brandon Jones, and Jeb Burton filled out the remainder of the top ten. 

The run to the finish

The race was slowed by 11 cautions and ended in double overtime, but much like the Truck race on Friday, the first part of Stage 3 was fairly clean. The field reached green-flag pit stops with Larson going for the undercut on race leader Allgaier. This came right after the two nearly crashed in a sketchy moment while battling for the lead.

Allgaier stayed out a couple laps longer while in heavy traffic, which was all Larson needed to be able to easily leapfrog into the race lead. Allgaier, who had dominated most of the race, needed a caution. He did get one, but it was Allgaier himself involved. While catching a far slower Kris Wright, the two cars came together and Allgaier crashed into the frontstretch wall, ending his day.

On the ensuing restart, Larson took off with his closest competition now out of the race. However, much like Truck winner Corey Heim, was not allowed to comfortably cruise to victory. 

Driving the No. 17 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, Larson acolyte Corey Day spun, hitting the tire pack at the inside of Turn 4. This really shook things up as Larson led one group onto pit road while Hill led a few others who chose to stay out.

It was a frantic restart as Mayer cut a path up the middle to take the lead while Larson surged forward, quickly joining the battle for the top spot. Moments later, a crash for Sammy Smith pushed the race into overtime with Larson moving up from eighth to third already. He climbed up to second on the next restart just before Jeremy Clements wrecking, triggering double overtime.

It was now Mayer versus Larson on the front row, but there was little the Haas Factory driver and defending Texas winner could do against the 2021 Cup Series champion. Larson drove off as Nick Sanchez slammed the wall, spoiling a top five run for himself. Gray made it up to the runner-up spot after Mayer slid wide as well, but unlike Sanchez, he avoided clobbering the wall.

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BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — The Children’s of Alabama Indy Grand Prix has returned to Barber Motorsports Park, bringing a wave of excitement and international attention to Birmingham. The event, which kicked off with the first round of practice Friday, is expected to draw even more than last year’s 80,000 attendees.

Race fan Tommy Means, visiting from Louisiana, expressed his enthusiasm, saying, “We’ve never been to an Indy Car Race…never been to Barber Motorsports, it’s fantastic, beautiful!”

Charles Cowner, another race fan, praised the venue’s intimate atmosphere. “I like this race venue because you can get more up close with the teams, it’s a little more personal, a friendly environment,” he said.

The event offers a variety of attractions, including a fan zone, concerts, and driver autograph sessions, ensuring there’s something for everyone. John Cho, attending with his young son Jaden, noted the family-friendly environment. “Everything is great so far, it’s very family friendly. I was a little hesitant because you know we’ve got a young one. But, it’s very easy the fans are great,” he said.

The weekend is not only about racing but also about raising funds for the Children’s of Alabama, the state’s only free-standing pediatric hospital. A portion of all race ticket sales will benefit the hospital, along with proceeds from a $5 Ferris wheel ride and a 5K race.

The main event is set for Sunday at 1 p.m., with tickets still available.