Ryan Blaney, who captured the win in the NASCAR Cup Series season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway and finished fourth in the year-end championship standings, will not be in attendance for Tuesday night’s NASCAR Awards Banquet in Miami, Florida. No, he wasn’t snubbed. Blaney, who was planning to attend the event, suffered a fall during a dinner on Monday night, a fall that Blaney says required medical attention.
In addition to the Awards Banquet, the scary fall will also lead to Blaney missing out on Ford Racing’s exhibition event at Daytona International Speedway on Wednesday. In an Instagram post shared by Blaney on Tuesday afternoon, the driver says that while he’s disappointed to miss out on the events of the next couple of days, he is doing okay following his fall.
“I was out at a dinner last night with my family and some friends, and I accidentally took a fall that required medical attention,” Blaney said in an Instagram post. “I am doing okay and am resting and recovering. I’m disappointed to miss celebrating Kyle Larson and the NASCAR Championship today and Ford’s “Proud to Honor race” tomorrow at Daytona. While I won’t be there, I’ll be supporting my teammates and fellow Ford drivers as they honor each branch of the U.S. Armed Forces on Veterans Day.”
Blaney, 32, was the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series champion and has been in the conversation for the NASCAR Cup Series title for the last several years. The Team Penske driver, who just capped off his 11th full-time NASCAR Cup Series campaign, has 21 career victories in 413 starts. Blaney picked up four wins in 2026 alone.
It’s sad that Blaney won’t be able to spend an evening with Larson and the rest of the NASCAR Cup Series racers celebrating the 2026 season on Tuesday night, but the fact that Blaney is able to post about his situation should be seen as nothing short of a miracle. The most important thing for Blaney, his Team Penske team, and the sport as a whole is that the driver focuses his energy on recovering from his fall.
