(File Photo: Source for Photo: FILE – Greg Biffle celebrates in victory lane after winning the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series auto race at Kansas Speedway on Sunday, Oct. 3, 2010, in Kansas City, Kan. (AP Photo/Orlin Wagner, File)

STATESVILLE, N.C. (AP) — A business jet crashed Thursday while trying to return to a North Carolina airport shortly after takeoff, killing all seven people aboard, including retired NASCAR driver Greg Biffle and his family, authorities said.

The Cessna C550 erupted into a large fire when it hit the ground. It had departed Statesville Regional Airport, about 45 miles (72 kilometers) north of Charlotte, but soon crashed while trying to return and land, the North Carolina State Highway Patrol said.

Flight records show the plane was registered to a company run by Biffle. The cause of the crash wasn’t immediately known, nor was the reason for the plane’s return to the airport in drizzle and cloudy conditions.

Federal Aviation Administration records show Biffle was rated to fly helicopters and single and multi-engine planes. It wasn’t clear if Biffle was piloting the plane at the time of the crash.

Biffle was on the plane with his wife, Cristina, and children Ryder, 5, and Emma, 14, according to the highway patrol and a family statement. Others on the plane were identified as Dennis Dutton, his son Jack, and Craig Wadsworth.

“Each of them meant everything to us, and their absence leaves an immeasurable void in our lives,” the joint family statement said.

Biffle, 55, won more than 50 races across NASCAR’s three circuits, including 19 at the Cup Series level. He also won the Trucks Series championship in 2000 and the Xfinity Series title in 2002.

NASCAR said it was devastated by the news.

“Greg was more than a champion driver; he was a beloved member of the NASCAR community, a fierce competitor, and a friend to so many,” NASCAR said. “His passion for racing, his integrity, and his commitment to fans and fellow competitors alike made a lasting impact on the sport.”

The plane, bound for Florida, took off from the Statesville airport shortly after 10 a.m., according to tracking data posted by FlightAware.com.

Golfers playing next to the airport were shocked as they witnessed the disaster, even dropping to the ground at the Lakewood Golf Club while the plane was overhead. The ninth hole was covered with debris.

“We were like, ‘Oh my gosh! That’s way too low,’” said Joshua Green of Mooresville. “It was scary.”

The National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration were investigating.

The Cessna plane, built in 1981, is a popular mid-sized business jet with an excellent reputation, aviation safety expert Jeff Guzzetti said. It has two engines and typically seats six to eight passengers and two pilots.

In 2024, Biffle was honored for his humanitarian efforts after Hurricane Helene struck the U.S., even using his personal helicopter to deliver aid to flooded, remote western North Carolina.

“The last time I spoke with Cristina, just a couple of weeks ago, she reached out to ask how she could help with relief efforts in Jamaica. That’s who the Biffles were,” U.S. Rep. Richard Hudson, a Republican from North Carolina, said.

Wadsworth was Biffle’s friend and helped him with odd jobs, including delivering supplies to places hit by Hurricane Helene, roommate Benito Howell said.

“He didn’t know how to say no,” Howell said of Wadsworth, who had worked for several NASCAR teams. “He loved everybody. He always tried to help everybody.”

The joint family statement also spoke about Dutton and his son Jack, saying they were “deeply loved as well, and their loss is felt by all who knew them.”

With 2025 almost over, there have been 1,331 U.S. crashes this year investigated by the NTSB, from two-seat planes to commercial aircraft, compared to a total of 1,482 in 2024.

Major air disasters around the world in 2025 include the plane-helicopter collision that killed 67 in Washington, the Air India crash that killed 260 in India, and a crash in Russia’s Far East that claimed 48 lives. Fourteen people, including 11 on the ground, died in a UPS cargo plane crash in Kentucky.

(File Photo: Source for Photo: This screengrab made from video provided by WSOC shows firefighting crews responding to a reported plane crash at a regional airport in Statesville, N.C., erupting in a large fire, Thursday, Dec. 18, 2025. (WSOC via AP)

STATESVILLE, N.C. (AP) — A business jet crashed Thursday at a regional airport in North Carolina used by NASCAR teams and Fortune 500 companies, erupting in a large fire and killing multiple people, authorities said.

“I can confirm there were fatalities,” Iredell County Sheriff Darren Campbell said, though he declined to say how many.

The Cessna C550 crashed while landing at Statesville Regional Airport, about 45 miles (72 kilometers) north of Charlotte, the Federal Aviation Administration said.

Golfers playing next to the airport were shocked as they witnessed the disaster, even dropping to the ground at the Lakewood Golf Club while the plane was overhead. The ninth hole was covered with debris.

“We were like, ‘Oh my gosh! That’s way too low,’” said Joshua Green of Mooresville. “It was scary.”

The National Transportation Safety Board and the FAA were investigating. AccuWeather says there was some drizzle and clouds at the time of the crash.

The plane took off from the airport shortly after 10 a.m. but then returned and was attempting to land there, according to tracking data posted by FlightAware.com.

The plane had planned to fly later from Sarasota, Florida, to Treasure Cay International Airport in the Bahamas before returning to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and then to Statesville by evening, data showed.

Video from WSOC-TV showed first responders rushing onto the runway as flames burned near scattered wreckage from the plane.

The airport’s website states that it offers corporate aviation facilities for Fortune 500 companies and several NASCAR teams.

 

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Statesville, NC) UPDATE ON STORY ABOVE: According to Tail number data, the plane was owned by Greg Biffle, a former driver for NASCAR who won 19 Cup Series races in his career spanning twenty years. Someone has confirmed that Biffle, his wife, Cristina, his daughter, Emma and son, Ryder were on the plane.

(File Photo of the CCBC Logo)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Monaca, PA) The athletic director of the Community College of Beaver County, Tyler Care, spoke on Beaver County Radio’s “Driving in the Fast Lane” with Frank Sparks this morning announcing the debut of a new sport for its athletics in the fall of 2026. Care expressed that men’s and women’s soccer will be featured at CCBC at that time. These two soccer programs will join the sports of men’s basketball, women’s basketball, women’s volleyball and e-sports at the school located in Monaca.

(File Photo: Source for Photo: Pittsburgh Penguins’ Sidney Crosby plays during an NHL hockey game Monday, Dec. 1, 2025, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

(AP) A family-owned, Chicago-based investment company is closing in on a deal to purchase the Pittsburgh Penguins from Fenway Sports Group.

Multiple outlets, including Victory Sports and ESPN, citing anonymous sources, reported Wednesday that the Hoffmann Family of Companies is nearing the final stages of an agreement to purchase one of the league’s marquee franchises. Any purchase would need to be approved by the NHL’s Board of Governors, though that is often merely a formality.

The financial details have not been released, though the Penguins were valued at around $1.7 billion recently by Forbes.

The sale, if completed, would end FSG’s brief run as stewards of the five-time Stanley Cup-winning franchise. FSG, which owns Major League Baseball’s Boston Red Sox and Liverpool of the Premier League, agreed to purchase the Penguins from Ron Burkle and Hall of Famer Mario Lemieux in late 2021

The terms of that sale were not announced, though the team was valued at around $845 million by Sportico at that time.

The Hoffman Family, which counts the ECHL’s Florida Everblades among the many companies it runs, will pay considerably more than that to become the team’s third different owner in a half-decade.

The sale comes with the Penguins in a bit of a transitional period as the era defined by stars Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang nears its end. The trio — who are playing their 20th season together as teammates — have guided the club to three Stanley Cups (2009, 2016 and 2017), though Pittsburgh has not reached the playoffs since 2022 and hasn’t won a postseason series since 2018.

The Penguins are in the midst of an overhaul orchestrated by general manager Kyle Dubas. They parted ways with two-time Stanley Cup-winning coach Mike Sullivan last spring and are off to a better-than-expected start under first-year coach Dan Muse, though they are currently riding a six-game losing streak heading into a road trip that begins on Thursday at Ottawa.

Attendance has dipped since the club’s 633-game sellout streak ended in October 2021. The Penguins are currently playing to about 88% capacity this season at PPG Paints Arena, the third-lowest percentage in the league.

It’s expected that Lemieux will retain some financial stake in the club, as he did when the team was sold to FSG. Lemieux’s role during FSG’s tenure was nebulous, though he has been around more frequently of late as Crosby neared Lemieux’s franchise points record.

Crosby has 1,722 career points, one shy of Lemieux’s total of 1,723.

Lemieux, who led the team to a pair of Stanley Cups in 1991 and 1992, remains beloved in Pittsburgh, where a statue of him sits outside one of the gates at PPG Paints Arena, which was built during his tenure as one of the club’s majority owners.

(File Photo: Source for Photo: Cleveland Browns linebacker Devin Bush Jr. rushes during an NFL football game against the Philadelphia Eagles, Oct. 13, 2024 in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/ Daniel Kucin Jr., file)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Pittsburgh, PA) Ex-Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker Devin Bush, Jr. was acquitted yesterday after a judge confirmed he was not guilty of assaulting his girlfriend during a dispute over mashed potatoes earlier this year. The argument broke out on May 4th, 2025 inside the home of Bush that is located in the Sewickley area. According to a report from TribLive, the twenty-seven-year-old Bush of Bell Acres, was accused of injuring twenty-seven-year-old Shkurte Leka after she started filming an argument between them on her iPhone and the conflict began over how Bush was transferring mashed potatoes into a container in the couple’s kitchen.  The report from TribLive also confirmed that Leka testified that Bush chased her through the home they shared, then pinned her to a massage table as he tried to wrestle the cellphone from her hands. However, Bush stated he was trying to leave the home as the fight escalated, saying that he had no physical contact with her, but he did admit to smashing Leka’s phone. Leka is also the mother of the 3-year-old daughter of the couple who suffered cuts and abrasions on both her right wrist and a toe after the argument. An Allegheny County Common Pleas judge made a ruling that Bush was not guilty of simple assault or harassment, saying prosecutors yeseterday failed to prove he intended to harm or injure Leka. Bush currently plays in the NFL for the Cleveland Browns. The Pittsburgh Steelers selected Bush as their first-round draft pick in the 2019 NFL Draft. Bush left the Steelers after the 2022 season.

(File Photo: Source for Photo: FILE – New York Mets pitcher Gregory Soto throws during the eighth inning of a baseball game against the Washington Nationals, Sept. 21, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura, File)

PITTBURGH (AP) — Two-time All-Star reliever Gregory Soto and the Pittsburgh Pirates finalized a $7.75 million, one-year contract on Tuesday.

Soto gives the Pirates an experienced left-handed option in a bullpen that will get a makeover in 2026 after relievers Colin Holderman and Dauri Moreta were designated for assignment last month.

The 30-year-old is 15-34 with a 4.26 ERA and 56 saves over seven seasons with five teams. He was an All-Star in 2021 and 2022 for Detroit. He spent 2025 with Baltimore and the New York Mets, who acquired him in late July just before the trade deadline.

Soto struggled in New York, going 1-3 with a 4.50 ERA in 25 appearances. His departure is the second significant subtraction from the Mets bullpen in free agency after closer Edwin Díaz agreed to a three-year contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers earlier Tuesday.

Pittsburgh appears to be settled at the back end of the bullpen, where Dennis Santana performed well after two-time All-Star David Bednar was traded to the New York Yankees last season. Soto gives the Pirates a pitcher who has filled a variety of roles, including closer.