“I’m scared to get too close”: Frankie Muniz discusses his contact with Jake Finch before earning his career-best finish at Michigan

Frankie Muniz's first top-5 finish of his newborn NASCAR ARCA Menards Series career came this weekend. The former actor-turned-racecar driver cruised to the finish in this weekend's race in the junior stock car racing category, with impressive results throughout his debut season in the sport

However, the race was not completely straightforward for the former Malcolm in the Middle Star as Muniz made contact with full-time driver Jake Finch during the early stages of the race.

Elaborating on the incident that ultimately did not cost Frankie Muniz a lot in terms of his car's performance on the track, the 37year-old spoke about his coming together with Jake Funch in an interview with frontstretch.com:

"I haven't seen a replay but in my head, I was alongside of him coming out of (turn) 2 and I gave him room because, to be honest, I'm a little scared to get too close. He just kind of jetted down a little bit and got into us. Fortunately, both saved it there but I had a tire go down and turning into turn 3, I just straight and hit the wall."

The damage that Frankie Muniz's #20 Ford Mustang sustained after the collision with Jake Finch and the outside wall was insignificant enough to allow the New Jersey native to achieve his career-best finish in the series. Muniz further added on how he and his team managed to bounce back from the early incident in the race and said:

"I really thought we were done, based on how the car felt but got back out there, we were really tight, made some changes and the car just kept getting better and better."

The ARCA Menards Series goes live once again from Indianapolis Raceway Park on August 11, 2023.

Frankie Muniz elaborates on the 'can't give up' mentality vital for a racecar driver

What he assumed to be one of his worst racing after making contact with Jake Finch during the ARCA Menards Series race at Michigan International Speedway turned out to be Frankie Muniz's best result in the sport.

Elaborating on how an early incident in the race cannot be dwindled upon by the driver, the former Malcolm in the Middle star spoke about a racecar driver's mentality after the race. He said:

"I've wanted this (top-5 finish) all season. It's weird that it came, if I think back early in the race it was going to b one of our worst races and ended up being our best, so that just proves to me that you can't give up. You never know what's going to happen in front of you too."

Watch Frankie Muniz try and climb the NASCAR ladder as the Hollywood star tries his hand successfully at racing stock cars.