Investigation launched into plane crash that injured Earnhardt Jr.
Federal officials are investigating what prompted the fiery plane crash that sent retired NASCAR driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. to a hospital Thursday in east Tennessee.
The National Transportation Safety Board announced in a tweet it is sending two investigators to Elizabethton to look for possible causes of the “runway excursion accident involving a Cessna 680 business jet.”
Dale Earnhardt Jr., his wife, Amy, and their 1-year-old daughter, Isla Rose, escaped the burning plane with two crew members, according to the Carter County Sheriff’s Office.
Earnhardt, 44, was treated for non-life-threatening injuries and discharged Thursday, officials said. He was headed to a race at Bristol Motor Speedway at the time, to work as an onair analyst for NBC Sports. The network offered no details on his condition.
It was announced late Thursday that Earnhardt intends to “take the weekend off” from broadcasting duties to be with his family, the Associated Press reported.
Earnhardt has yet to comment on the crash, which happened when his plane skidded off a runway about 3:40 p.m. and crashed at an airport in Elizabethton, a small town in far east Tennessee, according to a release from the Carter County officials.
However, his sister, Kelley Earnhardt, released a statement via Twitter early Friday: “Want to say thank you to God, the angels among us, our pilots, first responders, medical staff, our NASCAR family and everyone that has reached out in whatever way to support us all.”
Carter County Sheriff Dexter Lunsford said at the news conference Thursday that the plane had already started to burn as the Earnhardt family and flight crew escaped, including “flames coming from where the family had just been sitting,” The Charlotte Observer reported.
The plane was largely destroyed by the fire, photos show.