Frankie Muniz Says Winning A Race Would Be One Of Life's Greatest Moments

Frankie Muniz starred in a massively popular TV show, and has been nominated for Emmys and Golden Globes, and a bunch of other awards ... but the star actor says if he were to win an ARCA series race, it'd be the greatest professional achievement of his career!

"I don't know exactly how I'll react [to winning a race] but the way I feel right now with even the thought about it, it would rank 100% as the greatest accomplishment of ... Well okay, maybe having a wife, having my son. But, definitely number 3!" Muniz told Babcock on the "TMZ Sports" TV show (airs nightly on FS1).

37-year-old Muniz recently signed on to race full-time in the Rette Jones Racing #30 Ford Mustang car -- a NASCAR-owned ARCA team -- when the series kicks off in mid-February at the Daytona International Speedway in Florida.

Of course, Frankie starred as Malcolm in the hit TV show, "Malcolm In The Middle." He also starred in "Big Fat Liar" and "Agent Cody Banks," among many other films.

Frankie, whose first love is cars/racing, could barely contain his excitement at the prospect of racing, and even got emotional during the interview.

"I am on cloud 9. I've been very fortunate in my life to get to do a lot of cool things but this is something that I've wanted, literally, since I was five years old. I've reached in the past but I always knew I wanted to go Stock car racing. I wanted to race NASCAR so I'm thrilled to be in the ARCA Menards Series this year and finally get to announce it the other day. Felt really good 'cause it's something we've been talking about for a long time and here I am."

Muniz knows he has a lot to learn as the new guy on the circuit, but he's more than ready to go.

"I've got a lot to learn and I know that so I'm competitive, I want to win," Frankie said, while recognizing he'll be facing drivers with far more experience.

"I know I have to be a realist and know that this gonna be a pretty difficult year for me. I'm more motivated than ever, being older, you know, 37 years old which is fairly old to get started in the stock car world," Muniz said.

Bottom line for Muniz ... this is his chance to fulfill his dream, and he isn't going to let it go by without giving everything he's got.

"I have this opportunity in front of me right now and I'm gonna go for it 100%. I don't wanna look back at the end of the year and go 'man I wish I tried harder, I wish I trained harder, I wish I spent more time in the ship with the guys learning about the car figuring things out.'"