After saying NASCAR drivers and golfers “don’t count” as athletes, Stephen A. Smith received a strong response. This week, Michael Jordan entered the conversation.

Jordan, of course, fit Smith’s definition of an “athlete” given his achievements with the Chicago Bulls as a six-time NBA champion and arguably the greatest basketball player of all-time. But he’s also the owner of 23XI Racing, which has seen plenty of success this NASCAR Cup Series season with five wins from Tyler Reddick in the No. 45 car.

So after Smith’s comments went viral, His Airness made a phone call. Smith detailed the conversation on his SiriusXM radio show and said he “argued” with Jordan as he defended himself.

“You know who wanted to correct me about the NASCAR thing? Michael Jordan,” Smith said, via Awful Announcing. “Michael Jordan. I argued with him! Because that’s how I feel! I’m being honest. That’s how I feel. That’s all, it’s not a crime. That’s what makes radio and sports talk.”

Drivers such as Joey Logano and Denny Hamlin weighed in on the conversation after Smith’s remarks last week. The ESPN personality then fired back at Logano, encouraging him to “Google me” and walked through his resume as a TV analyst.

But Smith also made it clear he doesn’t plan to back down on his stance. That’s why he’s continuing to defend himself amid the wave of pushback.

“Don’t you notice what we call the gang mentality?” Smith asked. “Where everybody in my line of work jumps on popular opinion so they are lumped in with the vast majority of people who feel the way they feel? That’s easy. The hard part is, ‘this is where I stand, and I genuinely feel this way, and here’s why.’”

After Stephen A. Smith’s remarks went viral, Denny Hamlin initially dismissed them. He shrugged them off during his podcast, Actions Detrimental, and asked “Who cares?”

But Joey Logano had a more pointed response. He said Smith was trying to “stay relevant” and achieved his goal by making his comments.

“I wasn’t surprised,” Logano told Frontstretch. “He’s said it before. Listen, I think people like that have to make comments to stay relevant, right? I mean that’s part of their game. They’ve got to make big moments and things so people watch. So he got exactly what he wanted, right? He got you talking about, he got the whole industry talking about it and now he’s relevant.”