{"id":628370,"date":"2026-04-25T19:59:15","date_gmt":"2026-04-25T19:59:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/628370\/"},"modified":"2026-04-25T19:59:15","modified_gmt":"2026-04-25T19:59:15","slug":"nascar-driver-who-was-left-bloodied-from-horrifying-daytona-crash-has-harsh-words-for-stephen-a-smith","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/628370\/","title":{"rendered":"NASCAR driver who was left bloodied from horrifying Daytona crash has harsh words for Stephen A. Smith"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Ryan Preece, who is single-handedly responsible for the removal of the backstretch grass at Daytona International Speedway, has a blunt message for Stephen A. Smith<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Shut up and steer!<\/p>\n

OK, I’m paraphrasing, but I assume Preece at least thought that.<\/p>\n

For those who missed it, Stephen A. sent the NASCAR<\/a> world into a frenzy this week when he said NASCAR drivers aren’t athletes. It’s not a new debate, by the way, but Stephen A. brought it back to the surface, and it went … poorly.<\/p>\n

\"Stephen <\/p>\n

ESPN commentator and host Stephen A. Smith appears on set in New Orleans, La., on Feb. 7, 2025. (Aaron M. Sprecher\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

The conversation all took place on his SiriusXM podcast, and it turned to NASCAR (and golf) during a debate about where LeBron James ranks as one of the greatest athletes ever in terms of longevity.<\/p>\n

Weird that Stephen A. was talking about LeBron. He almost never mentions him!<\/p>\n

Anyway, a caller suggested Richard Petty deserves to be on that list, and the “First Take”<\/a> host LOST it.<\/p>\n

“Come on, man. That don\u2019t count. You driving a car!” Smith said. “I\u2019m being honest, it\u2019s 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.”<\/p>\n

Ryan Preece isn’t falling for it, Stephen A. Smith!<\/p>\n

Whoaaaaaaaaaaa Nellie! Tell us how you really feel, Stephen A. Smith! Goodness gracious. Such a random rant from someone who I can promise you hasn’t watched one second of a NASCAR race in … maybe ever? Seriously.<\/p>\n

What are the odds that Stephen A. has ever watched a single lap? Not great. I’d venture to say that he can’t name a single driver outside of Bubba Wallace. Maybe Tyler Reddick, but only because he drives for Michael Jordan.<\/p>\n

But outside of that? No shot. Just a ridiculous thing to say, which makes sense given it’s Stephen A. Smith.<\/p>\n

Now, back to Ryan Preece …<\/p>\n

\"NASCAR <\/p>\n

NASCAR Cup Series driver Ryan Preece gets airborne after a wreck during the Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway. (Mark J. Rebilas\/Imagn Images)<\/p>\n

For those who don’t recall, Preece went for an insane ride a few years back at Daytona. The wreck was so brutal, the speedway actually removed the grass from the backstretch to hopefully keep the car on the ground in the future.<\/p>\n

Take a look:<\/p>\n

Yeah, you just don’t see stock cars do that nowadays. Certainly not like we used to. It’s rare that they even flip anymore, much less do it a billion times. Wild.<\/p>\n

Anyway, Preece was asked about Stephen A. Saturday afternoon at Talladega, and didn’t mince words:<\/p>\n

“I’d love for him to go tumbling 13 times, have black eyes, and show up next week doing what you gotta do.”<\/p>\n

Amen, brother! Get him! Don’t let Stephen A. get away with that nonsense. Like I said, the guy is full of crap. Like Ryan said, he says things just to say them. Just to get a rise out of folks.<\/p>\n

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Ryan <\/p>\n

Ryan Preece barrel rolls along the back stretch during the NASCAR Cup Series race at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Fla., on Aug. 26, 2023. (Don Howard\/AP)<\/p>\n

Obviously, it worked. I’m writing about it on a Saturday in April during the NFL Draft. Well done, Stephen A.<\/p>\n

Can’t wait to see you on the track soon!<\/p>\n

Zach Dean is a writer for OutKick.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ryan Preece, who is single-handedly responsible for the removal of the backstretch grass at Daytona International Speedway, has…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":628371,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[446],"tags":[49,48,634,231762,582,82,35518],"class_list":{"0":"post-628370","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nascar","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-nascar","11":"tag-outkick-sports","12":"tag-racing","13":"tag-sports","14":"tag-stephen-a-smith"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/628370","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=628370"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/628370\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/628371"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=628370"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=628370"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=628370"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}