Retired NASCAR driver-turned-broadcaster Dale Earnhardt Jr. still plans to contest the NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Darlington Raceway on Aug. 31, driving a car fielded by his JR Motorsports team, despite injuries sustained in a plane crash in Elizabethton, Tenn., on Aug. 15.
Only minor injuries were reported among those on the plane, also including Earnhardt's wife Amy, daughter Isla, two pilots and a dog. On Thursday. Earnhardt revealed he suffered bruising and swelling on his back.
"Yes. I plan on driving still,” Earnhardt [@DaleJr] tweeted. "My lower back is bruised up real bad. Lots of swelling, and I just need that to go down and the pain to chill out. I been treating the area every day solely to get well to race. I have a plan B but hope not to use it.”
Earnhardt clarified that Plan B is to have someone else drive the car.
The Cessna Citation Latitude plane, registered to JR Motorsports bounced twice before right-side landing gear collapsed, causing the plane to run off the runway, catching fire, at the Elizabethton Municipal Airport.
"The airplane departed the paved surface beyond the runway 24 departure end threshold, through an open area of grass, down an embankment, through a chain-link fence, and up an embankment, coming to rest on the edge of Tennessee Highway 91," a report from the National Transportation Safety Board [NTSB] read.
Also, according to the report, the plane’s pilots told investigators they tried to abort the landing, but after the second bounce, the plane didn’t respond the way they expected, and they couldn’t stop the plane before it ran off the runway.
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