Stephen A. Smith implores Joey Logano to ‘Google me’

If Joey Logano thinks Stephen A. Smith is using NASCAR just to stay relevant, then Stephen A. Smith thinks Joey Logano needs to do some more research.

Last week, Smith picked a fight with golfers and NASCAR drivers by proclaiming they’re not real athletes during an episode of his Mad Dog Sports Radio show on SiriusXM. Smith broached the hot take after a caller suggested Richard Petty’s longevity rivals what LeBron James has been able to do over the course of his NBA career. To which Smith promptly argued, NASCAR drivers “don’t count.”

“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,” Smith ranted. “Just because you gotta walk the course for 18 holes for four days, that don’t make you an athlete. They’re skilled players; they’re elite at what they do. But athletes? Athletes? Are you kidding me? If you’re out there doing stuff that grandmas and grandpas can do, I’m not gonna look at you that way.”

The NASCAR community was quick to push back, with Motor Racing Network even offering to put Smith in a car. Smith did not respond to the proposal, but he did respond to three-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Joey Logano, who accused the ESPN and SiriusXM host of just trying to stay relevant with his hot take.

“People like that have to make comments to stay relevant,” Logano said when asked about Smith. “I mean, that’s part of their game, right? They gotta make big moments so people watch. He got exactly what he wanted — he got you talking about it, the whole industry talking about it. Now he’s relevant.”

Joey Logano went on to explain the mental and physical side of the sport proves NASCAR drivers are athletes before dismissing the counterargument as, “just a way for people like that to stay keeping the job.” And during his Monday afternoon radio show, Stephen A. Smith made sure to let the three-time NASCAR champion know, he doesn’t need to try to stay relevant, he is relevant.

“Let me speak directly to Mr. Joey Logano, I don’t know you from a can of paint,” Smith said. “Why can’t I just have an opinion about NASCAR? Why do I have to be doing it to stay relevant? My television show has been No. 1 in the morning for 14 straight years. I’m on television and radio and my career spans 30 years.

“What do you mean? ‘To get a job’ or ‘to keep a job.’ Check the news. Google me. I don’t have that concern. I’ve been blessed by God enough not to have that concern… Do I look like somebody that needs to be relevant? I am relevant.”

And according to Stephen A. Smith, Joey Logano commenting on his opinion about NASCAR drivers not being athletes only proves he is relevant. Because if an irrelevant person or talk show host made the same comment, Logano wouldn’t have been asked about it.

Sure, Smith would still be “relevant” without this particular opinion about NASCAR drivers and golfers not being athletes. But it is the accumulation of hot takes and Smith’s brand as an ultracrepidarian that keeps him relevant.