Add NASCAR drivers to the ever-growing list of those Stephen A. Smith has offended.
Legendary driver Kevin Harvick teed off on the ESPN pundit after he said NASCAR racers are not athletes, joining a chorus of those within the sport pushing back against Smith’s narrative.
“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,” Harvick said Tuesday.
He added: “I think this is just instance where Stephen A. Smith is looking for clicks on something he knows absolutely nothing about what he’s talking about.”
Smith, 58, got himself in trouble last week when he criticized racecar drivers after a caller nominated Richard Petty during a discussion of the best athletes of all-time.
“Come on, man. That don’t count,” Smith said on his self-named show after the caller listed Petty’s accomplishments. “You driving a car?”
When the fan pushed back, stating Smith had agitated some of his fans with that remark, the “First Take” host detailed why he doesn’t believe drivers fit the bill.
“You can get behind the wheel of a car at 75 years old. That don’t count. That’s not the same. That has no place in this category. You should be ashamed of yourself trying to slide that in,” Smith said. “A golfer is not an athlete. A NASCAR driver is not an athlete. That’s just not true. We’re not going to act like it is.”
Drivers around the sport have railed against Smith, and Harvick’s comments carry extra weight since he ranks 11th in NASCAR Cup Series wins with 60, per motorsport.com.
Harvick, who analyzes NASCAR for Fox Sports, used science on his “Speed with Harvick and Buxton” show to offer his counter to Smith’s contention.
He said he once reached out to Polar, a watch company, to obtain a device to wear while competing, and estimated that he burned 3,200 calories. The company told him something happened incorrectly, though, and they sent him a new version that registered him burning 2,400 calories due to more caution periods.
“The only things we see with that much of a calorie burn or constant heart rate are marathon runners,” Harvick said.
Co-host Will Buxton, a journalist, then further drove home Harvick’s point.
“Any elite driver, they are an elite athlete,” he said. “Motor racing is not sitting on your ass and pushing a pedal and using a steering wheel to drive yourself to the shops.
“It is the most extreme of extreme sports.”