Ryan Blaney is a man of many talents: NASCAR driver, heavy metal screamer, aspiring Jedi, grizzly lumberjack beard grower. And now, thanks to one of racing’s best social media videos ever, he can add fabulous Céline Dion lip-syncing impersonator to his resume as well.
The 28-year-old Team Penske driver was shooting some NASCAR season promos Wednesday when apparently things turned musical. Blaney didn’t just walk through that open door; he blasted it open with the glamour and attitude of a show-stopping Broadway star — costume to match (almost).
Forget the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series season. Blaney already won it before it even started with his spectacular lip-synching performance to a clip of Dion’s It’s All Coming Back to Me Now. It’s only 13 seconds, but they’re 13 tremendous seconds that briefly transform a green-screen set into a Vegas stage.
Hey @celinedion, how did @Blaney do?
🎉😂❤️ pic.twitter.com/jCltFQXxyM
— NASCAR Nation (@NASCARNation) January 19, 2022
An incredible song, of course — and one that’s probably impossible for most people on Earth sing well — but Blaney’s lip-synching version of it is near perfect. Sure, he seems to stumble a tad early on with the lyrics:
“There were nights of endless pleasure
It was more than all your laws allow”
But when “Baby, baby, baby” hits, that’s when Blaney really picks up steam.
He ditches his cape, tosses his glasses away with the gusto and pizzazz of an outraged movie star and grabs what looks like some kind of broom/microphone before adding, “When you touch me like this…” With his right hand holding the mic and left hand sassily on his hip, Blaney was ready for this dazzling moment, a thespian masquerading as a NASCAR driver.
The passionate emotions of the iconic song radiate from Blaney like a jolt of energy — or, in a much literal sense, like the highlighter shades on his Menards fire suit. His unwavering eye contact drags you in even closer.
With a performance like this, he makes you feel every word in the lyrics course through your veins — Céline accompanying him or not.
And he clearly feels it too, faux belting it out with all his might, as if it’s the finale reprise of a legendary show destined to be a fixture in musical theater circles, just minutes ahead of the final curtain call.
The NASCAR world has never seen a performance like this and may never again simply because it’s seemingly impossible to top. For that, we must say: Take a bow, Ryan Blaney. And thank you.
