Frankie Muniz, driver of the #30 Hair Club Ford, walks the grid prior to the ARCA Menards Series BRANDT 200 Supporting Florida FFA at Daytona International Speedway on February 18, 2023 in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Photo by James Gilbert/Getty Images)

Hollywood star Frankie Muniz earns career-best NASCAR finish at Michigan

By Sushmita

Modified Aug 05, 2023 12:49 GMT

Frankie Muniz had his NASCAR career best result at Michigan International Speedway on Friday, August 4.

Driving for Rette Jones Racing, Muniz rounded off the top five of the ARCA series race, despite getting involving in a turn 2 collision. This is the former actor's first top 5 finish in the NASCAR ARCA Menards Series.

In a post-race interview, Muniz stated that he was stil improving in the series with nine races left.

"Even though this is my first top five, I feel like I’m a top five guy in the series, I’m still learning. So I know I’m nowhere near my peak. We’ve still got nine races left, so watch out Jesse Love, because I’m still learning and I’m coming,” Muniz said (via mlive.com).

Toby Christie

@Toby_Christie

Here is the moment between Frankie Muniz and Jake Finch. Great job by both drivers to hang on. #ARCA pic.twitter.com/z8R1KsuGEo

Muniz stayed in the 8th and 12th position for the most of the race. However, the 37-year-old had an opportunity to move up on the restart during the last lap's yellow, and he finally managed to hold off Morgen Baird to take fifth place.

Frankie Muniz explains his collision with Jake Finch in Michigan

On the 27th lap of Friday's race, Frankie Muniz made contact with Jake Finch in Turn 2. Muniz's tire went flat as a result, and he crashed into the wall in Turn 3. Even with a flat tire, Muniz was able to roll back into the pits safely.

Frontstretch

@Frontstretch

After early race contact with Jake Finch, @frankiemuniz earned his first ARCA Series top 5 today. He spoke with Stephen Stumpf about his overall happiness with the day minus the incident. pic.twitter.com/79SELR35Qd

During the post-race interview, Muniz spoke to Stephan Stumph about his race and explained his point of view on the incident. The American said he did give Finch room, yet he still made contact with his car. He suspected Jake was the one who collided him.

"In my head, I was alongside him coming out of two and I gave him room because, to be honest, I’m a little scared to get too close and they’re always yelling at me to get closer but he just kind of jetted down a little bit and got into us,” he said.

After multiple pit stops and damage repairs, the former actor was able to climb up the board. Due to some other on-track incidents, the race went into overtime and Frankie Muniz was able to salvage a fifth place finish for his team.

Edited by
Siddharth Dhananjay