Stephen A Smith says he argued with Michael Jordan about whether NASCAR drivers are athletes

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Stephen A. Smith saying that NASCAR drivers are not athletes has been one of my favorite stories for quite some time.

You've got someone giving a demonstrably incorrect hot take, and then just digging their heels in.

It's everything that's both great and terrible about sports media rolled up in a single package.

NASCAR DRIVER WHO WAS LEFT BLOODIED FROM HORRIFYING DAYTONA CRASH HAS HARSH WORDS FOR STEPHEN A. SMITH

NBA great and NASCAR team owner Michael Jordan reportedly called Stephen A. Smith to explain why NASCAR drivers are athletes. (Scott Kinser-Imagn Images and Jerome Miron-Imagn Images)

But, I thought if there was one person who could break through to Stephen A. and point to the mountain of evidence why NASCAR drivers — and racing drivers in general — are not just athletes, but high-level, highly trained athletes, it would be Michael Jordan.

But I would be mistaken.

Stephen A. has been called out on this take by drivers like Joey Logano and Kevin Harvick, who brought his own in-car fitness tracking info as proof. So, Smith, being the savvy media personality he is, took this to his show.

That's when, according to Awful Announcing, he got a call from his Airness.

ZERO BS. JUST DAKICH. TAKE THE DON'T @ ME PODCAST ON THE ROAD. DOWNLOAD NOW!

Now, if you didn't know, Jordan is a longtime NASCAR fan and co-owns one of the sport's hottest teams right now, 23XI Racing, with current Joe Gibbs Racing driver Denny Hamlin.

Surely, he could talk some sense into Stephen A.

Stephen A. Smith speaks onstage during the 2025 ForbesBLK Summit at Ray Charles Performing Arts Center Morehouse College on October 9, 2025, in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo