Greg Biffle, a former NASCAR driver, along with his wife and two children were among the dead in a plane crash in North Carolina on Thursday.
The crash happened at Statesville Regional Airport around 10:15 a.m. local time on Thursday when the Cessna C550 plane, owned by Biffle’s GB Aviation Leasing, took off and immediately returned but caught fire.
In the immediate aftermath of the crash, authorities revealed several people were feared dead, raising concerns for the former racer and his family.
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Shortly after the crash, Biffle’s friend and YouTuber Garett Mitchell, better known as Cleetus McFarland, confirmed on Facebook that the racer and his family had perished.
“Sadly I can confirm that Greg Biffle, his wife Christina, daughter Emma and son Ryder were on that plane…as they were on their way to spend the afternoon with us (sic),” he wrote.
“We are devastated. I’m sorry to share this,” the YouTuber added.
However, authorities must release the identities of the victims. It is also unclear how many people were on board the private plane.
Who was Greg Biffle? Career, wife, family
Greg Biffle was born in 1969 in Vancouver, Washington and began his NASCAR career in 1995.
Nicknamed ‘The Biff’, Biffle soon rose to fame, being named Rookie of the Year in 2001.
From there, Biffle went on a great 2005 Cup Series run, winning a series-high six races. However, he finished second in the championship standings and narrowly lost the title to Tony Stewart by just 35 points.
From 2003 to 2016, Biffle won 19 races and was famously dominant at Homestead-Miami Speedway in the mid-2000s, winning the season-ending race three consecutive years (2004, 2005 and 2006).
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Biffle is one of only three drivers to ever win a championship in both the Busch Series and the Craftsman Truck Series, as well as one of only 36 drivers in history to win a race in all three of NASCAR’s national touring series.
Biffle married Cristina Grossu just two years back in 2023, and the couple share a 5-year-old son, Ryder. The racer also had a named daughter Emma, 14, with ex-wife Nicole Lunders.
Former NASCAR driver and YouTuber Mitchell have become close friends over the years, bonding over a love of racing and a shared effort to provide relief to the North Carolina community following Hurricane Helene in 2024, which left over 250 dead. It was the deadliest hurricane to make landfall since 2005’s Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans and surrounding areas.
