NASCAR star Greg Biffle was flying with wife, kids before private jet he owned crashed in North Carolina, panicked friend reveals

Multiple people were killed when a private jet owned by NASCAR driver Greg Biffle crashed and exploded into flames while trying to land at a North Carolina airport Thursday – with one of his close friends claiming Biffle was flying to see him with his wife and kids.

The Cessna C550 was carrying six people when it went down at Statesville Regional Airport, which is frequented by NASCAR teams and Fortune 500 companies, just before 10:30 a.m., authorities said.

Footage shot by WSOC-TV captured the aircraft entirely engulfed in flames as emergency crews rushed onto the runway.

BREAKING: A small aircraft has crashed at #Statesville Regional Airport north of Charlotte, North Carolina. We are working to learn more. pic.twitter.com/60i0L1bqNv

— Kaitlin Wright (@wxkaitlin) December 18, 2025

“I can confirm there were fatalities,” Iredell County Sheriff Darren Campbell said, though he declined to say how many or who may have been on board.

Biffle — a 55-year-old semi-retired NASCAR driver affectionately known as “The Biff” — owns the plane through GB Aviation Leasing, public records show.

It wasn’t immediately clear who was on board the jet at the time and authorities have not identified any of the dead.

However, Biffle’s motorsports-personality pal, Garrett Mitchell, claimed in a social media post that the NASCAR favorite, his wife and two children were flying to see him.

“Unfortunately, I can confirm Greg Biffle, his wife Cristina, daughter Emma and son Ryder were on that plane,” Mitchell wrote on Facebook, where he has previously posted messages to the family.

“Because they were on their way to spend the afternoon with us. We are devastated. I’m so sorry to share this.”

Mitchell is Facebook friends with the family, with other friends writing on Cristina Biffle’s page begging her to answer her phone and praying that the news is not true.

Former NASCAR driver Kenny Wallace also claimed on X that Craig Wadsworth, a beloved figure in the NASCAR community and the executive chef for Michael Waltrip Racing, was also on board the doomed plane.

“Craig Wadsworth drove of our motorhome for six years,” Wallace said in the solemn post, which included a picture of Wadsworth posing with the former racer’s family.

“Our family is heart broke right now. He died on the airplane. I will be giving my thoughts at a later date.”

The plane — which costs at least $2 million — had taken off from the regional airport, located about 45 miles north of Charlotte, just after 10 a.m. but quickly turned around after failing to even make it to 2,000 feet, FlightAware data show.

Witnesses who were playing golf adjacent to the airport recalled dropping to the ground at the Lakewood Golf Club as the plane went overhead.

“We were like, ‘Oh my gosh! That’s way too low,’” said Joshua Green of Mooresville, adding that there was debris all over the ninth hole.

“It was scary.”

AccuWeather reported there was drizzle and clouds around the airport at the time of the crash.

The jet was scheduled to leave Sarasota, Florida, for Treasure Cay International Airport in the Bahamas before returning to Fort Lauderdale and then continuing on to Statesville later that night, flight data showed.

The city-owned airport “provides corporate aviation facilities for Fortune 500 companies and several NASCAR teams,” according to its website.

Biffle, a married father of two, is a 19-time winner on NASCAR’s Cup Series and a one-time Busch series champion.

He made headlines last year for piloting his privately owned chopper to make a daring, caught-on-camera rescue of a trapped Hurricane Helene victim.

The National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration are probing Thursday’s wreck, officials said.

With Post wires

Multiple people were killed when a private jet owned by NASCAR driver Greg Biffle crashed and exploded into flames while trying to land at a North Carolina airport Thursday – with one of his close friends claiming Biffle was flying to see him with his wife and kids.

The Cessna C550 was carrying six people when it went down at Statesville Regional Airport, which is frequented by NASCAR teams and Fortune 500 companies, just before 10:30 a.m., authorities said.

Footage shot by WSOC-TV captured the aircraft entirely engulfed in flames as emergency crews rushed onto the runway.

BREAKING: A small aircraft has crashed at #Statesville Regional Airport north of Charlotte, North Carolina. We are working to learn more. pic.twitter.com/60i0L1bqNv

— Kaitlin Wright (@wxkaitlin) December 18, 2025

“I can confirm there were fatalities,” Iredell County Sheriff Darren Campbell said, though he declined to say how many or who may have been on board.

Biffle — a 55-year-old semi-retired NASCAR driver affectionately known as “The Biff” — owns the plane through GB Aviation Leasing, public records show.

It wasn’t immediately clear who was on board the jet at the time and authorities have not identified any of the dead.

However, Biffle’s motorsports-personality pal, Garrett Mitchell, claimed in a social media post that the NASCAR favorite, his wife and two children were flying to see him.

“Unfortunately, I can confirm Greg Biffle, his wife Cristina, daughter Emma and son Ryder were on that plane,” Mitchell wrote on Facebook, where he has previously posted messages to the family.

“Because they were on their way to spend the afternoon with us. We are devastated. I’m so sorry to share this.”

Mitchell is Facebook friends with the family, with other friends writing on Cristina Biffle’s page begging her to answer her phone and praying that the news is not true.

Former NASCAR driver Kenny Wallace also claimed on X that Craig Wadsworth, a beloved figure in the NASCAR community and the executive chef for Michael Waltrip Racing, was also on board the doomed plane.

“Craig Wadsworth drove of our motorhome for six years,” Wallace said in the solemn post, which included a picture of Wadsworth posing with the former racer’s family.

“Our family is heart broke right now. He died on the airplane. I will be giving my thoughts at a later date.”

The plane — which costs at least $2 million — had taken off from the regional airport, located about 45 miles north of Charlotte, just after 10 a.m. but quickly turned around after failing to even make it to 2,000 feet, FlightAware data show.

Witnesses who were playing golf adjacent to the airport recalled dropping to the ground at the Lakewood Golf Club as the plane went overhead.

“We were like, ‘Oh my gosh! That’s way too low,’” said Joshua Green of Mooresville, adding that there was debris all over the ninth hole.

“It was scary.”

AccuWeather reported there was drizzle and clouds around the airport at the time of the crash.

The jet was scheduled to leave Sarasota, Florida, for Treasure Cay International Airport in the Bahamas before returning to Fort Lauderdale and then continuing on to Statesville later that night, flight data showed.

The city-owned airport “provides corporate aviation facilities for Fortune 500 companies and several NASCAR teams,” according to its website.

Biffle, a married father of two, is a 19-time winner on NASCAR’s Cup Series and a one-time Busch series champion.

He made headlines last year for piloting his privately owned chopper to make a daring, caught-on-camera rescue of a trapped Hurricane Helene victim.

The National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration are probing Thursday’s wreck, officials said.

With Post wires