Denny Hamlin is defending the physical demands of NASCAR. Speaking on his podcast, the Joe Gibbs Racing driver distinguished between being an athlete and being athletic. His comments follow recent criticism from Stephen A. Smith, who said NASCAR drivers cannot be called athletes.

"I say yes," Hamlin said in the recent Actions Detrimental episode. "When you train for a specific sport for most of your life, your body gets trained to be able to do that. Jared or you, you would not be able to sit in that car and do what we do, turn that wheel, sit in that heat, maintain the g-forces."

He went on to explain his stance, "You just, your bodies are not trained to do that. So we're athletes in that sense, but it does not mean that we are necessarily athletic. The strength and the stamina is the part that no casual person would be able to do."

Stephen A. Smith's comments triggered a massive controversy as drivers like Ryan Preece and Joey Logano countered them with their own experience.

As explained by Hamlin, the ability to go beyond what normal people do is often considered athletic, but not as much as how soccer players or runners perform in their sport. In a nutshell, whether NASCAR drivers are athletes is a broader aspect.

While Hamlin shared his thoughts on this, he also lauded Carson Hocevar and called him the next big thing in the sport.

Denny Hamlin predicts big for Carson Hocevar's future

Denny Hamlin lauded Carson Hocevar after his recent Talladega Superspeedway victory, and with this, he also predicted a prosperous future for the Spire Motorsports driver.

"I just think that it was a great win for him, a great win for the sport,” Hamlin said. “You’ve been pumping these young guys that you want to promote as the new face of the sport. And I think that he’s going to be part of that short list that carries the sport for quite some time.”

Notably, this was Carson Hocevar's first win in 91 races. Hocevar, who is often compared to the great Dale Earnhardt, celebrated his win with pomp and show. He received showers of praise both from NASCAR officials and the fans alike, further strengthening his ties with the sport.

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Written by

Sabyasachi Biswas

Edited by

Suyashdeep Sason