Stephen A. Smith spent two hours on national radio claiming NASCAR drivers aren’t athletes because grandparents drive cars. The cockpit hits 140°F, heart rates sustain 170 bpm for three hours, and the drivers — plus Front Row Motorsports — had something to say about it.
Talladega Superspeedway · Jack Link's 500 · April 2026 By PitByNumbers Staff 5 min read S tephen A. Smith spent two hours on national radio last week arguing that NASCAR drivers are not athletes. His evidence: your grandparents drive cars.
That is the argument. That is the full argument from one of the most recognizable voices in American sports media, delivered with complete confidence, about a sport he has almost certainly never watched for a full lap. The NASCAR world has not been quiet about it since.
KEY TAKEAWAYS • What He Actually Said It started on Mad Dog Sports Radio on SiriusXM. Stephen A. was deep into a discussion about LeBron James and all-time athletic longevity when a caller suggested Richard Petty — a man who drove 200 races, won seven Cup Series championships, and competed professionally into his late 40s — belonged in that conversation.
Stephen A. was not impressed. “Come on, man.
That don’t count. You driving a car.” He kept going. “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.” He pivoted to golf immediately.
“Just because you gotta walk the course for 18 holes for four days, that don’t make you an athlete.” Then the line that summarizes the entire take: “If you’re out there doing stuff that grandmas and grandpas can do, I’m not gonna look at you that way.” He committed to this for two full hours. He did carve out one exception — Tiger Woods — but not for his golf. For his physique and build.
That is where we are. The Grandma Argument Destroys Itself Here is the problem with the grandma-and-grandpa framework: a 60-year-old can throw a baseball. A 60-year-old can dribble a basketball.
A 60-year-old can lift a weight. By Stephen A.’s own standard applied consistently, there are no athletes anywhere. The argument collapses under its own logic before you even get to the data.
But let’s get to the data anyway. What Actually Happens Inside the Car NASCAR drivers sustain G-forces continuously for three-plus hours. Cockpit temperatures regularly climb between 120 and 140 degrees Fahrenheit.
Driver heart rates reach 170 beats per minute for extended stretches. Your grandfather cannot do that. That is not a guess.
That is documented. Front Row Motorsports said it directly in their response to Smith: “Hop in for a ride-along, then tell the world how not athletic it feels going 180 mph, pulling G-forces, and fighting that wheel for three straight hours.” The Drivers Respond Talladega media day on Saturday was essentially a Stephen A. Smith press conference with cars in the background.
Every driver got the question. The answers were instructive. Ryan Preece went first and went hardest.
Preece is the driver whose 2023 Daytona barrel-roll crash was so violent that the speedway removed the backstretch grass to prevent it from happening again. He walked away from the wreckage under his own power. His message to Smith: “I’d love for him to go tumbling 13 times, have black eyes, and show up next week doing what you gotta do.” Ross Chastain acknowledged the nuance honestly: “I am not as athletic as anybody that just got drafted into the NFL.
And I’m at the top level of our sport.” But he kept going: “I’m not going to dunk a basketball. But he couldn’t come do what we do and be competitive — physically or mentally.” Chris Buescher: “I promise if he actually showed up and gained a little bit of knowledge and tried to experience a little bit, his take would change very quickly. Like anyone has that has made similar comments through the years.” And then there was AJ Allmendinger, who delivered the best response of the weekend without even trying.
Reporter: “Have you gotten a chance to see the comments that Stephen A. Smith made about NASCAR drivers?” Allmendinger: “Who?” Reporter: “Stephen A. Smith.” Allmendinger: “Never heard of him.
What’s he do?” Reporter: “He is a sports analyst.” Allmendinger: “NASCAR analyst?” Reporter: “He is not.” Allmendinger: “Okay then. No. Never heard of him.” The Front Row Response Front Row Motorsports did not simply tweet their displeasure.
They went directly to Stephen A.’s Instagram DMs with a formal challenge — opening by mimicking his own broadcast style. “Absolutely preposterous. Quite frankly, we were stunned.
Stunned.” They then issued a direct invitation for Stephen A. to do a ride-along with one of their drivers: Noah Gragson, Todd Gilliland, or Zane Smith . A professional NASCAR team used Stephen A.
Smith’s own rhetorical voice to challenge him in writing, officially, as an organization. The clip spread. Awful Announcing posted it and it went viral across social media.
The Honest Version of the Debate Here is what Stephen A. got wrong — not just factually, but structurally. There is a legitimate version of this conversation.
“Where do NASCAR drivers rank on the athletic spectrum compared to other professional athletes?” That is a fair debate. Reasonable people can disagree about relative rankings. What Stephen A.
did was different. He did not rank NASCAR drivers. He removed them from the category entirely — based on the observation that older people drive cars to the grocery store — without doing any research, for two hours, on national radio.
The move he made was conflating casual participation with elite performance. Yes, your grandfather drives a car. He cannot drive one at 180 miles per hour while sustaining 140-degree cockpit temperatures, managing tire degradation, and avoiding 39 other vehicles at racing speed.
Elite performance and casual participation are not the same activity wearing different clothes. Stephen A. knows this distinction exists in every other sport he covers.
He chose not to apply it here. The Verdict Stephen A. Smith is not stupid.
He is one of the best at generating conversation in American sports media. He said something outrageous, it worked, and now you are reading an article about it at a NASCAR betting intelligence site on a Sunday in April during the Talladega race . Well played.
But the take itself is wrong. Not edgy-wrong or opinion-wrong. Factually wrong.
The cardiovascular data, the G-force measurements, the temperature readings, and the physical demands of professional NASCAR racing are documented. They are not matters of interpretation. Front Row Motorsports sent the DM.
The car is at Talladega. The drivers are ready. The only remaining question is whether Stephen A.
Smith will get in.