Already considered an antagonist by Dallas Cowboys fans and the NBA’s LeBron James, Stephen A. Smith has now turned on NASCAR drivers, whom he considers to be something other than athletes.
‘Come on, man. That don’t count,’ Smith recently said on his eponymous YouTube show after a caller described stockcar driver Richard Petty as one of the greatest athletes of all time. ‘You driving a car?
‘I’m being honest, it’s a great sport,’ continued Smith. ‘But come on, bro. Getting behind the wheel of a car is not the same. You can be behind the wheel of a car in your 60s and 70s, for crying out loud. A golfer is not an athlete. A NASCAR driver is not an athlete.’
Known as ‘the King,’ the 88-year-old Petty is a seven-time points winner on NASCAR’s top circuit and has 200 wins to his name. But while he didn’t respond to Smith’s jab, another NASCAR legend did.
‘If you don’t know anything about racing, just keep your opinion to yourself because you shouldn’t even have an opinion if you don’t know anything about a sport,’ stockcar great Kevin Harvick said Tuesday on the Speed podcast.
‘I think this is just an instance where Stephen A. Smith is looking for clicks on something he knows absolutely nothing about what he’s talking about,’ added Harvick, a 60-time winner on NASCAR’s top circuit.
Stephen A. Smith does not consider NASCAR drivers to be athletes, he recently revealed
NASCAR great Kevin Harvick did not appreciate Stephen A. Smith’s take on drivers
Smith’s comments also got a response from driver Denny Hamlin, who happens to co-own 23XI racing with Smith’s long-time friend, Michael Jordan.
‘When you train for a specific sport for most of your life, your body gets trained to be able to do that,’ Hamlin told his co-host on the Actions Detrimental podcast. ‘You would not be able to sit in that car and do what we do, turn that wheel, sit in that heat, maintain the g-forces.
‘The strength and the stamina is the part that no casual person would be able to do. If you’re going to use that part of the definition, we are absolutely athletes, and he’s incorrect.
Smith has been accused of being out of his depth when conversations stray from the NBA and NFL on his various platforms.
For instance, he mistakenly claimed in 2021 that Juan Soto was batting behind Aaron Judge in the Yankees’ order when the exact opposite happened to be true. He even admitted on Awful Announcing’s podcast in 2023 that he doesn’t ‘get to watch as much baseball’ as other sports.
And Smith has admittedly less knowledgeable about hockey, although he has the good sense to avoid weighing in on that sport too much.
As for his views about NASCAR, Smith has knowledgeable sources to turn to given his NBA and NFL background. His friend Jordan co-owns NASCAR’s first-place team, 23XI Racing. And Smith is probably familiar with the owner of the second-place team, former Washington Redskins head coach Joe Gibbs.
But unless ESPN buys NASCAR Cup Series rights, which belong to Fox Sports until 2031, Smith’s fascination with the sport is probably limited to the occasional off-hand comment like the one he delivered this week on YouTube.
