Folks, do you remember how Bubba Wallace fainted twice after a brutal NASCAR race in Atlanta back in 2020? It was a terrifying moment that left fans and the broadcast team stunned. Wallace had just finished the grueling Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 when exhaustion hit him like a ton of bricks. Cameras caught him staggering before collapsing into his crew’s arms. Moments later, he tried to power through an interview, only to faint again on live television.

“I don’t even know. It’s a long race, I guess. I stood up too fast,” Wallace joked as he recovered. But in reality, it was no laughing matter. This wasn’t just fatigue—it was a reminder of the extreme conditions NASCAR drivers endure. This age-old debate resurfaced once again at Phoenix Raceway when Joey Logano was asked about it. When asked if drivers get enough credit as athletes, Logano didn’t just disagree—he was downright furious.

During Saturday’s qualifying session, Logano clinched the second position behind William Byron. However, his media interaction was what caught fans’ attention. During a media session at Phoenix Raceway, he was hit with a question that made his blood boil: Do NASCAR drivers get enough credit for being athletes?

“You know, the fact that they even ask us is a bit ridiculous, in my opinion. If you give me a basketball, I’m not going to be that great with it. If you put an NBA player in a race car, they’re not going to be that great either. So, are you going to tell me now that an NBA player is not an athlete because they can’t drive a race car? Probably not, right? So then, why would you call me not an athlete? It’s an uneducated question from people that don’t understand our sport, is what it is,” Logano blasted.

For those who think NASCAR is just about turning left, Logano’s frustration makes perfect sense. These drivers put their bodies through an absolute grind. They endure extreme G-forces, battle temperatures inside the car that can soar over 130 degrees, and keep their heart rates at an insane 170 beats per minute for hours at a time. Physically, the G-force sometimes exceeds what a fighter pilot feels. Brad Keselowski’s recent incident was enough evidence of that.

Apart from that, drivers lose pounds of water weight during a race, gripping the wheel with relentless force as they wrestle a 3,600-pound stock car at 180 mph. One split-second lapse in focus could mean disaster. As Bubba Wallace’s fainting incident showed, the toll on a driver’s body is very real. Even athletes from other sports recognize NASCAR’s difficulty. Former NFL star Randy Moss, who once owned a Truck Series team, admitted, “I thought driving was easy until I sat in a race car. It’s a whole different ballgame.”

Notably, Logano is not alone in this fight. 23XI Racing driver Daniel Suarez strongly believes that NASCAR drivers are elite athletes. “If people looked at our heart rate data, they’d understand it’s an entirely different ballgame. The heat is something I train on a lot to be 100% in the summer races,” he said before the 2025 Daytona 500. However, within NASCAR, not everyone sees things the same way.

Chase Elliott, for instance, has a more laid-back perspective. The 2020 Cup series champion acknowledged the unique demands of NASCAR but stopped short of calling himself an athlete. “I don’t claim to be an athlete… but there’s a ‘racing shape,’” he said in 2023. A year later, former Cup driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. also echoed his sentiments.

“There might be other drivers that physically don’t have themselves in the best shape, they’re not as concerned about what they’re putting in their body. Would I call that individual an athlete? Probably not. Can you be an athlete and a great race car driver? You can… Can you be a great race car driver and not be athletic? Yes,” he said on an episode of Sports and Forks in 2024. That was true for Junior, especially since he once famously revealed his regimen of partying during the week that drew out his performances on the weekend.

Despite the differing opinions, one fact remains—competing in NASCAR at the highest level requires a combination of endurance, mental toughness, and lightning-fast reflexes. However, amid the athletic debate, Joey Logano also spoke about the ongoing controversy around his teammate, Austin Cindric.

Logano weighs in on Austin Cindric’s controversial penalty

Joey Logano didn’t just make headlines at Phoenix for his heated response to the athlete debate. Reporters also asked him about NASCAR’s handling of Austin Cindric’s controversial on-track retaliation at Circuit of the Americas (COTA). Notably, Cindric, Logano’s teammate at Team Penske, spun out Ty Dillon after a minor bump on Lap 4. NASCAR penalized Cindric with a $50,000 fine and a 50-point deduction but did not suspend him.

Many fans expressed outrage, pointing out that NASCAR suspended Bubba Wallace in 2022 for intentionally wrecking Kyle Larson. NASCAR defended its decision, stating that road course racing has tighter corners, making incidents like this different from high-speed oval wrecks. However, the explanation didn’t satisfy everyone. When asked about NASCAR’s ruling, Logano gave a measured response.

“It’s one thing to be written in the rule book, but sometimes it’s really hard to understand because there’s a lot of legal mumbo-jumbos in there. When they make a call, you expect that next time, in a similar scenario, it should look the same. So, I guess it’s case by case,” Logano said. His words reflected the growing frustration among drivers about NASCAR’s inconsistent penalties. Many drivers like Kyle Busch and Ty Dillon felt Cindric got off lightly compared to past rulings. With tensions running high, fans can expect more fireworks—both on and off the track at Phoenix Raceway this weekend.