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Private Jet Carrying Dale Earnhardt Jr. Crashes in Tennessee

Race car driver Earnhardt Jr. and his wife and daughter escaped serious injury.

Private Jet Carrying Dale Earnhardt Jr. Crashes in Tennessee
Dale Earnhardt Jr. speaks during the All Candy Expo at McCormick Place in Chicago, Illinois, U.S. (Photographer: Tim Boyle/Bloomberg News)

(Bloomberg) -- Race car driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. and his wife and daughter escaped serious injury Thursday after his private jet rolled off a runway and caught fire in Tennessee.

The Cessna Citation burst into flames at Elizabethton Municipal Airport at about 3:40 p.m., the Federal Aviation Administration said in an emailed statement. Earnhardt was with his wife Amy and daughter Isla Rose, according to a tweet posted by Kelley Earnhardt, Dale’s sister.

“Everyone is safe and has been taken to the hospital for further evaluation,” Kelley Earnhardt said.

Private Jet Carrying Dale Earnhardt Jr. Crashes in Tennessee

Photos of the plane in local media show it engulfed in flames. The Earnhardt family and two pilots were taken to a hospital as a precaution, said Brian Stevens, an engineer at the Elizabethton Fire Department.

The National Transportation Safety Board said it was investigating the crash. Cessna Aircraft Co. is owned by Textron Inc.

To contact the reporters on this story: Alan Levin in Washington at alevin24@bloomberg.net;Ryan Beene in Washington at rbeene@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Jon Morgan at jmorgan97@bloomberg.net, John Harney

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