Earnhardt, family OK after crash
Dale Earnhardt Jr. will take the weekend off from broadcasting to be with his wife and daughter after the three were in a plane crash at Elizabethton, Tenn., which is near Bristol Motor Speedway.
The 44-year-old television analyst and retired driver was taken to a hospital for evaluation after the crash in east Tennessee. Earnhardt was with wife Amy, 15-month-old daughter Isla, a dog and two pilots.
“We’re incredibly grateful that Dale, his wife Amy, daughter Isla, and the two pilots are safe following today’s accident,” NBC Sports said in a statement. “After being discharged from the hospital, we communicated with Dale and his team, and we’re all in agreement that he should take this weekend off to be with his family.”
Federal Aviation Administration officials said a Cessna Citation rolled off the end of a runway and caught fire after landing at Elizabethton Municipal Airport on Thursday afternoon.
Earnhardt retired as a full-time driver in 2017 and has been working as an analyst for NBC. He was scheduled to be part of the broadcast team for Saturday night’s Monster Energy Cup Series event at Bristol, Tenn.
This incident comes 26 years after former driver and 1992 Cup champion Alan Kulwicki died in a plane crash while on his way to the spring race at Bristol from a promotional appearance in Knoxville, Tenn. That crash at TriCity Regional Airport in Blountville, Tenn., killed four people.
In other news:
• Brett Moffitt pulled away on a restart with three laps to go and won the NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series playoff opener at Bristol Motor Speedway to earn a spot in the Round of 6. Moffitt finished 0.743 seconds ahead of 17-year-old Chandler Smith for his 10th series victory and first at the eastern Tennesee track. The top seed and defending series champion won the pole and led 65 laps on the 0.533-mile oval.