The Frankie Muniz Daytona crash has stunned fans across the country — and here in Toledo, where so many of us grew up watching him as the quick-witted kid at the center of Malcolm in the Middle.

Frankie Muniz, 40, was rushed to a Florida hospital on Wednesday, November 11, after crashing his car while practicing for the Proud to Honor Veterans Day Classic at Daytona International Speedway. A Ford representative — Ford co-hosts the event with NASCAR — said Muniz was “transported to a local medical facility for further evaluation” and is “awake and alert.”

The first-of-its-kind race-and-music event honors service members and military families and was scheduled for Wednesday night. It was supposed to be a celebration. Instead, practice ended with a frightening trip to the hospital.

Muniz had told Page Six he was “excited” and “thrilled” to race in honor of his father, who served in the Air Force and Navy, and his grandfather, who served in the Navy. He also said his on-screen dad Bryan Cranston — who got him into racing back in 2004 — was coming to cheer him on.

It is a reminder of just how far Muniz has come from his days as a child star. The former Malcolm in the Middle star has reinvented himself as a NASCAR driver in recent years, trading the sitcom set for the speedway — and on Wednesday, that second act took a scary turn at Daytona.

For now, the best news in a frightening day is the update from Ford: Muniz is awake and alert.

Featured photo: Frankie Muniz in 2025, via Wikimedia Commons.