Former NASCAR champion Greg Biffle died in a plane crash Thursday in Statesville, North Carolina, the family revealed in a released statement. He was 55 years old.
Biffle’s wife, Cristina, was also killed in the crash, as was their son, Ryder, and Greg Biffle’s daughter from his previous marriage, Emma, according to the release. Dennis Dutton, his son Jack and Chad Wadsworth also died in the crash. which was confirmed in a press release from NASCAR.
A Cessna C550 business jet owned by a Biffle-related company, according to FAA records, took off from Statesville Regional Airport shortly after 10 a.m. Thursday before quickly turning around and attempting to land. The plane crashed at the end of the runway.
Investigations into the incident are ongoing.
Biffle was born December 23, 1969 in Vancouver, Washington, and grew up driving short tracks in the Pacific Northwest.
In October 1996, he made his debut at the national level of NASCAR, finishing 23rd in the AC-Delco 200 at Rockingham Speedway in what was then called the Busch Series, NASCAR’s second-tier division.
He joined the Truck Series in 1998, winning the Rookie of the Year award. Two years later, he won the series title and was named Most Popular Driver. Biffle moved up to a full-time seat in the Busch Series in 2001 and repeated as Rookie of the Year. Great success followed in 2002 with a series championship and another most popular driver.
From there, he moved into the Cup Series with team owner Jack Roush.
Biffle raced full-time at the Cup level from 2003 to 2016, collecting 19 wins, 92 top-fives and 175 top-10s. He finished second in the season in 2005 when he led all drivers with six wins. He placed third in 2008.
In 2023, Biffle was named one of the 75 greatest NASCAR drivers of all time.
Greg Biffle celebrates his victory in the Pepsi 400 on July 5, 2003 at Daytona International Speedway.
The first of his 19 career Cup Series victories came in July 2003 at the Pepsi 400 at Daytona International Speedway. Although he never prevailed at the Daytona 500, Biffle won the pole position for the 2004 Great American Race.
He also competed in the 2005 Rolex 24 at Daytona.
In recent years, Biffle has raced sporadically in Stadium Super Trucks and Superstar Racing Experience.
He returned to the Cup Series after a six-year hiatus for five races with NY Racing Team in 2022. His last Cup event was the 2022 Geico 500 at Talladega, nine years after his last victory, in the 2013 Quicken Loans 400 at Michigan.
But Biffle never officially retired.
In 2024, he joins the Let’s Go Racing podcast with David Starr and says he I wanted to run another Daytona 500 “in a good competitive car”, but that race did not materialize for the 2025 race.
He ran two races in the ARCA Menards Series West in August, finishing third and fourth.
Biffle was a licensed pilot. In the aftermath of Hurricane Helenehe used his helicopter to deliver supplies to disaster-stricken residents of eastern Tennessee and western North Carolina. He received the 2024 National Motorsports Press Association Myers Brothers Award for his efforts.
This article originally appeared in the Daytona Beach News-Journal: NASCAR driver Greg Biffle and three family members dead after plane crash
