Andretti Autosport’s Carlos Munoz has been shot out of a cannon since making debut at the 2013 Indy 500. Qualifying and finishing second at the Speedway, Munoz has gone on to score three podiums this year and holds seventh in the championship.

And now, as he looks to close his first full season of his Verizon IndyCar Series competition, the young Colombian is trying to match the best rookie season in recent history as he jockeys for position with open-wheel champions Juan M​ontoya, Scott Dixon and Tony Kanaan for a top-5 finish in the standings.

The 23-year-old will need to place fifth if he wants to equal Simon Pagenaud’s impressive rookie campaign in 2012, and among his Andretti teammates, Marco Andretti’s run to seventh in the championship as a rookie in 2006 ranks as the best in-house goal to pursue, but it won’t be easy to achieve fifth or seventh.

The drivers he needs to get in front of have been gaining momentum, and with Kanaan, Andretti and Sebastien Bourdais breathing down his neck, Munoz will need to drive like a veteran over the final four rounds if he wants to hold onto his current position.

Speaking with The RACER Channel, Munoz offered his thoughts on how the season has gone, how he’s made big strides in a short amount of time under the Andretti banner, and how much potential remains untapped: