NASCAR News: Greg Biffle and his family killed in plane crash

Greg Biffle, his wife Cristina Biffle, his 14-year-old daughter Emma, and his 5-year-old son Ryder, were killed when his plane crashed at the Statesville Regional Airport in rural North Carolina on Thursday morning, erupting into a large fire on the runway.

There were no survivors.

The plane was a Cessna C550 owned by GB Aviation Leasing. The address listed on the FAA registry for the plane matches an address for NASCAR star Greg Biffle (pictured) in Mooresville, North Carolina, Yahoo Sports has confirmed.

The airport reported that there had been an “aircraft incident” at around 10 a.m. local time Thursday morning. The local sheriff’s department confirmed that there were multiple fatalities, according to the AP. According to tracking data from the website FlightAware, the plane took off from Statesville Airport at 10:06 a.m. before abruptly looping back toward the airport.

On the advice of Benny Parsons, Jack Roush hired Biffle in 1995 and the pair experienced immediate – and lasting – success.

“The Biff’ quickly made a name for himself in the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series winning the 1998 Rookie of Year award and the 2000 series championship.

Similar success came in the NASCAR Xfinity Series – a 2001 Rookie of the Year award followed by the 2002 championship, the latter making him the first driver with championships in both the Xfinity Series and the Truck Series.

And while Biffle was unable to win a Cup Series championship in 14 fulltime seasons, he earned 19 wins in 515 starts and was a perennial Playoff contender. Biffle finished in the top 10 in the standings six times, including a runner-up finish in 2005.

Biffle was named one of NASCAR’s 75 Greatest Drivers.