{"id":636764,"date":"2026-04-29T16:47:20","date_gmt":"2026-04-29T16:47:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/636764\/"},"modified":"2026-04-29T16:47:20","modified_gmt":"2026-04-29T16:47:20","slug":"kevin-harvick-slams-stephen-a-smiths-claim-that-nascar-drivers-arent-athletes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/636764\/","title":{"rendered":"Kevin Harvick slams Stephen A. Smith&#8217;s claim that NASCAR drivers aren&#8217;t athletes"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Add NASCAR drivers to the ever-growing list of those Stephen A. Smith has offended.<\/p>\n<p>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\u2019s narrative.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf you don\u2019t know anything about racing, just keep your opinion to yourself because you shouldn\u2019t even have an opinion if you don\u2019t know anything about a sport,\u201d Harvick said Tuesday.<\/p>\n<p>Kevin Harvick in 2019. Getty Images<\/p>\n<p>He added: \u201cI think this is just instance where Stephen A. Smith is looking for clicks on something he knows absolutely nothing about what he\u2019s talking about.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCome on, man. That don\u2019t count,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=_6UFAOdN9MM\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Smith said<\/a> on his self-named show after the caller listed Petty\u2019s accomplishments. \u201cYou driving a car?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>When the fan pushed back, stating Smith had agitated some of his fans with that remark, the \u201cFirst Take\u201d host detailed why he doesn\u2019t believe drivers fit the bill.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou can get behind the wheel of a car at 75 years old. That don\u2019t count. That\u2019s not the same. That has no place in this category. You should be ashamed of yourself trying to slide that in,\u201d Smith said. \u201cA golfer is not an athlete. A NASCAR driver is not an athlete. That\u2019s just not true. We\u2019re not going to act like it is.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Drivers around the sport have railed against Smith, and Harvick\u2019s comments carry extra weight since he ranks 11th in NASCAR Cup Series wins with 60, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.motorsport.com\/nascar-cup\/news\/all-time-nascar-cup-series-wins-list\/10557114\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">per motorsport.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Stephen A. Smith at the White House Correspondents\u2019 Dinner in April 2026. WireImage<\/p>\n<p>Harvick, who analyzes NASCAR for Fox Sports, used science on his \u201cSpeed with Harvick and Buxton\u201d show to offer his counter to Smith\u2019s contention.<\/p>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe only things we see with that much of a calorie burn or constant heart rate are marathon runners,\u201d Harvick said.<\/p>\n<p>Kevin Harvick celebrating after wining in 2020. Getty Images<\/p>\n<p>Co-host Will Buxton, a journalist, then further drove home Harvick\u2019s point.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAny elite driver, they are an elite athlete,\u201d he said. \u201cMotor racing is not sitting on your ass and pushing a pedal and using a steering wheel to drive yourself to the shops.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt is the most extreme of extreme sports.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Add NASCAR drivers to the ever-growing list of those Stephen A. Smith has offended. Legendary driver Kevin Harvick&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":636765,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[446],"tags":[49,48,25423,634,82,6998,35518],"class_list":["post-636764","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nascar","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-kevin-harvick","tag-nascar","tag-sports","tag-sports-media","tag-stephen-a-smith"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/636764","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=636764"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/636764\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/636765"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=636764"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=636764"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=636764"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}