ESPN professional hot-take artist Stephen A. Smith doesn’t spend a lot of time talking about NASCAR, and Joey Logano would prefer he keep it that way.
During a discussion last week on his show on Mad Dog Sports Radio on Sirius XM, Smith took the opinions of callers on where LeBron James ranked among the greatest athletes of all-time.
One caller suggested that NASCAR legend Richard Petty should be considered among the best. This idea prompted Smith to scoff and go on an extended rant about how NASCAR drivers, and golfers, weren’t real athletes.
“Come on, man. That don’t count. You driving a car!” Smith exclaimed. “I’m being honest, it’s a great sport. But come on, bro. Getting behind the wheel of a car is not the same.”
Smith added, “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. Just because you gotta walk the course for 18 holes for four days, that don’t make you an athlete.”
“They’re skilled players, they’re elite at what they do. But athletes? Athletes? Are you kidding me? Is walking the latest sport that you want to turn into an Olympic sport? Because I guess that would make them athletic, right? Because they can walk. If you’re out there doing stuff that grandmas and grandpas can do, I’m not gonna look at you that way. You’re skilled, you’re phenomenally skilled as a golfer…but that is not an athletic sport.”
Those comments made their way, in a sense, onto the Fox broadcast of the race at Talladega Speedway this weekend.
Broadcaster Mike Joy referenced Smith, though not by name.
“Earlier this week a well-known online pundit said racecar drivers are not athletes,” Joy said. “I want to send him this sequence and ask him to think about it.”
NASCAR racer Joey Logano also weighed-in, charging Smith would making inflammatory comments to make headlines.
“I don’t put much weight into it, personally, because he’s never driven a racecar,” Logano said. “I mean I personally believe that we’re athletes, because it’s the mental aspect is important. Obviously the physical piece is very challenging inside the racecar, not many people can understand. So I don’t think I need to defend it personally. I think it’s just a way for people like that to stay keeping a job.
“I’ve done this long enough I don’t care,” Logano said of Smith. “I don’t need to put much weight into that.”