yes it is, has teams, seasons and at the end of each season a champion is "crowned", and actually out of the sports i watch and know of Nascar's season last the longest, just because you don't use a ball doesn't mean its not a sport
and yes the drivers are athletes, not looking at drivers from way back when but look at the drivers now, do any of the look out of shape? no they don't, all of them are in shape, you try to drive and control a car for 4 hours while its 100 degrees in the car with NO A/C while wearing a thick fire suit, also after the races none of them look tired like most people would be, they just look sweaty which is understandable since its over 100 degrees in the car and they're wearing thick fire suits