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Stephen A. Smith didn’t make many friends in NASCAR circles when he labeled drivers as non-athletes.
“Come on, man. That doesn’t count. You’re driving a car!” Smith said last month on his SiriusXM show. “I’ll be honest. It’s a great sport. 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 the 60s and 70s for crying out loud.”
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Jeff Gordon and Kyle Larson sit in the Arrow McLaren pit box on May 18, 2023 during the third day of practice for the 107th Indianapolis 500 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. (Kristin Enzor/For IndyStar/USA TODAY NETWORK)
Well, Kyle Larson and Jeff Gordon caught wind of what Smith had to say, and of course they challenged him.
“My first answer is, do we really want to give clicks and attention to Stephen A. because I feel like that’s what he’s asking for there,” Gordon began during a recent interview with Pakinomist Digital.
“But at the same time, he clearly doesn’t know very much about the sport and he doesn’t know what it takes to be an athlete in motorsports. There’s no question about the mental fatigue it takes to be in the car for hours, the competitiveness and things that make drivers true athletes. It’s just in a different sense of what a ball and ball sport is like in practice.”
Larson, the reigning NASCAR Cup Series champion, then challenged Smith, or anyone for that matter, to go one lap in a race car “without feeling like they were going to die.”
“Everyone has a slightly different definition of what an athlete can mean to them. So his definition is different than the way I would feel about it. Do I get excited when I hear someone say we’re not athletes? No.”
Kyle Larson hits the wall in turn two during the Indianapolis 500 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Indianapolis on May 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Jamie Gallagher)
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“I do,” Gordon cut in.
But Larson is a little more understanding.
“I just accept that they won’t understand, because they’ll never be able to strap into a race car going 200 miles an hour. If they did, I don’t think they’d be able to make it through a lap without feeling like they’re going to die,” Larson continued.
“And then you factor in three-and-a-half-hour races and a 150-degree car with an elevated heart rate of probably 150 for three hours, with a peak of, to me, would be 190. Then I think they would quickly realize that even if you’re not shooting a ball into a hoop, this is definitely a sport where you can have more endurance, of things.”
Gordon said he recently invited Jason Kelce to take a lap and even drive the car on a track.
NASCAR Hall of Famer Jeff Gordon speaks during a news conference at Bristol Motor Speedway in Bristol, Tennessee on April 12, 2026. (Randy Sartin/Imagn Images)
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“I’m pretty sure he would have a different opinion on that,” Gordon said. “Just ask him.”
