DAYTONA BEACH — Frankie Muniz was just chilling, sitting in the middle of the pack. He wanted to hang around until the end.

“I was the most calm I’ve probably ever been in a racecar,” he said.

Then, after 37 laps of the United Rentals 300 at Daytona International Speedway, Muniz saw smoke ahead.

In his Xfinity Series debut Monday, the 38-year-old actor and racecar driver fell victim to a Stage 2 crash. John Hunter Nemecheck bumped Jesse Love and kicked off a 10-car wreck, Muniz included. He placed 33rd out of 38 entrants.

“We knew we just wanted to make it to the end, so I didn’t even get to try to be race-y at all,” he said. “We were just hanging back, hanging back ...

“And not that we wanted to be gifted positions at all, but I need to learn.”

Muniz embraces that fact.

He made his first pit stop Monday. He climbed into the No. 35 Ford Mustang for Joey Gase racing for the first official time. And even though he enjoyed success — 11 top-10 finishes — as a full-time participant in the ARCA Menards Series in 2023, this premiere and the disappointing result meant something to him.

“When I have moments like this, I feel like, ‘Am I supposed to just be racing late models on, like, a local level?’” Muniz said. “I take this on a personal level. It makes me feel like, ‘Man, maybe we moved too fast,’ even though I don’t think I did anything wrong.”

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When Muniz saw the smoke in front of him, he hesitated to slam on the brakes. He knew there were cars right behind him. He saw a hole and hit it, avoiding debris until he reached the wet grass.

His ride slid and collided with another car. The mess caught him. His car acquired considerable damage and didn’t turn correctly afterward.

“You can always look back and go, “Maybe I should’ve done that. I could’ve done this,’” Muniz said. “But these races, it’s kind of luck, to be honest.

“I feel stupid. My season last year kind of ended pretty bad. We went on a streak of a bunch of bad luck and DNFs. And after starting so promising, I really was hoping to reinvigorate the excitement of just having some positivity.”

Muniz did stash some good things in his metaphorical back pocket.

Usually, he doesn’t focus on anything but the driving. But Monday, he noticed how the car moved. He considered the pace.

“The first run, everyone was like single file,” Muniz said. “I was surprised by how much it checked up. When we were like, ‘Why are we checking up? Just put your foot on the gas. What are you doing?’”

He laughed.

At one point, he moved as high as 13th. He conducted that pit stop. He laid down some laps, the first of hopefully many.

Muniz plans to compete in 10-16 races this season. Next, he’ll head to Phoenix on March 9.

“I want to do a good job for me,” Muniz said. “I want to do a good job for the team. I definitely don’t want to be out on lap 30-whatever.”

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Frankie Muniz wrecks out of first Xfinity Series race at Daytona