ELIZABETHTON, Tenn. -- Dale Earnhardt Jr. will take the weekend off from broadcasting to be with his wife and daughter after the three were in a plane crash-landing Thursday near Bristol Motor Speedway.
The 44-year-old television analyst and former NASCAR Cup Series driver was taken to a hospital for evaluation after the crash in East Tennessee. Earnhardt was with his wife, Amy; 15-month-old daughter, Isla; a dog; and two pilots.
There were no serious injuries beyond cuts and abrasions, Carter County Sheriff Dexter Lunceford said.
"We're incredibly grateful that Dale, his wife Amy, daughter Isla, and the two pilots are safe following today's accident," NBC Sports said in a statement. "After being discharged from the hospital, we communicated with Dale and his team, and we're all in agreement that he should take this weekend off to be with his family.
"We look forward to having him back in the booth next month at Darlington."
Mike Davis, Earnhardt's manager, told ESPN's Marty Smith that Earnhardt and his family were traveling to their North Carolina home by car Thursday night, and Kelley Earnhardt Miller, general manager of JR Motorsports and sister of Dale Earnhardt Jr., released a statement Friday saying everyone is "doing well."
"We want to reiterate our appreciation to the NASCAR community, first responders, medical staff, and race fans everywhere for the overwhelming support in the last 24 hours," Earnhardt Miller said. "Dale, Amy, Isla and our two pilots are doing well. We are assisting the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board in the investigation and will have no further comment at this time."
The Federal Aviation Administration's Accident and Incident Notification report says the Cessna Citation experienced a hard landing, bounced and then left the runway before catching fire at Elizabethton Municipal Airport at 3:40 p.m. CT Thursday.
The National Transportation Safety Board tweeted that it was sending two representatives to Elizabethton to investigate the crash.
NEW: Video shows thick, black smoke rising from the site of a small plane crash that was carrying Dale Earnhardt, Jr. and his family. Everyone on board, including Earnhardt, escaped the wreck, said the local sheriff. https://t.co/2nqljR6C5C pic.twitter.com/noizctpZVk
— ABC News (@ABC) August 15, 2019
This incident comes 26 years after former driver and 1992 Cup champion Alan Kulwicki died in a plane crash while on his way to the spring race at Bristol from a promotional appearance in Knoxville, Tennessee. That crash at Tri-Cities Regional Airport in Blountville, Tennessee, killed four people.
Earnhardt was part of Rick Hendrick's racing team in 2011 when Hendrick broke a rib and his collarbone while on a small jet that lost its brakes and crash-landed in an airport at Key West, Florida. Hendrick's son, brother and twin nieces were among 10 people killed in a 2004 crash of a plane traveling to a race in Virginia.
This isn't the first fiery crash for Earnhardt. He still has a scar on his neck from a crash at Sonoma, California, in 2004 during warm-ups for an American Le Mans Series race, which left him with second-degree burns.
Earnhardt, NASCAR's most popular driver a record 15 times, retired from Cup Series competition in 2017 after dealing with a number of concussions that plagued him over his final years as a driver. He ran one Xfinity Series race in 2018 and is scheduled to drive in the Xfinity Series race at Darlington Raceway on Aug. 31.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.