One thing that wasn’t expected from Stephen A. Smith’s controversial take was that it would unite the entire racing world against him. For once, drivers, teams, and fans set aside their differences to mock his comments. And while he has now become a more familiar name in the motorsports world, it’s not for a good reason. Even the NASCAR booth didn’t hold back, as Mike Joy of FOX Sports delivered a sarcastic remark earlier.
While Stephen A. Smith is more popularly known as a TV personality and a sports analyst in America, Joy seemed to put all that aside when he said, “Earlier this week, a well-known online pundit said ‘race car drivers are not athletes,’” on the live NASCAR broadcast during the race at the Talladega Superspeedway. Reviewing Ty Gibbs’brutal contact with the wall in the race, Joy added:
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“I wanna send him this sequence and ask him to think about it.”
Stephen A. Smith only gained all of this traction on social media earlier last week when discussing athletes with career longevity. When NASCAR’s King, Richard Petty’sname was brought up, Smith seemed disappointed, claiming that race car drivers are not athletes.
“Come on, man. That don’t count. You driving a car,” Smith said, via Awful Announcing. “I’m being 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 your 60s and 70s, for crying out loud. A golfer is not an athlete. A NASCAR driver is not an athlete.
“NASCAR is a sport, are they athletes too, because they can get behind the wheel of a car and drive 100 plus miles per hour around the track 500 times, you trying to tell me they’re athletes too?… If you’re out there doing stuff that grandmas and grandpas can do, I’m not gonna look at you that way.”
Safe to say, he didn’t get the most positive reception from the fans. Many challenged him to run in a car for once, with others dismissing his comments. It seems apparent in this day and age that not classifying racing drivers as athletes would be a little out of the ordinary. Apart from the endurance that they have to showcase in the car, there’s also the physical toll their bodies take, and so, Smith’s comments seemed to be coming from the old days of racing.
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Meanwhile, the drivers had their reactions.
NASCAR drivers react to Stephen A. Smith’s comments
“Never heard of him,” AJ Allmendinger told Frontstretch, when asked about his reactions to Smith’s comments.
While this seemed a little too straightforward, it is understandable for a racing driver not to recognize a public figure. But at the same time, many did, and they seemed disappointed with what he had to say about their abilities as athletes.
“Well, it’s for the attention. I mean, [he] made a career out of that,” said Ross Chastain.
It did seem like the Trackhouse Racing driver was going to take his comments in a tougher direction, but he ended up explaining that NASCAR drivers might not be the most athletic personalities out there, but they have their training to go through.
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Others, including the likes of Todd Gilliland and Chase Briscoe, mentioned that it was disappointing to see those comments coming from a figure as prominent as Smith, but didn’t seem to be too focused on it.
At the end of the day, it can perhaps be argued what defines being an athlete, or what defines being athletic, but as Chastain mentioned, “We’re not the athletes that swing baseball bats, that kick soccer balls, that we’re not. But we are our own, like we have to be able to do what we do,” it seems apparent that race car drivers, especially NASCAR drivers, have their strengths and weaknesses.
Maybe generalizing and claiming that drivers are not athletes was a rough comment coming from Stephen A. Smith, but unless he changes his stance, the likes of the fans and even Mike Joy might continue with this slander.
The post Mike Joy Takes On-Air Jab at Stephen A. Smith After NASCAR Drivers “Don’t Count” as Athletes Rant appeared first on EssentiallySports. Add EssentiallySports as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
