Greg Biffle, a veteran NASCAR driver who won titles in two of the organization's three national series, died Thursday morning in a Statesville, N.C., plane crash along with his wife Cristina, his two children Emma and Ryder, and three others. He was 55.
"We are devastated by the loss of our loved ones," the families of the victims said in a statement via Bob Pockrass of Fox. "This tragedy has left all of our families heartbroken beyond words."
A native of Vancouver, Wash.—unusual in the South-centric stock-car racing world—Biffle began racing in NASCAR’s then-new Craftsman Truck Series in the late 1990s. He won Rookie of the Year in that circuit in 1998 and its title in 2000, putting him line for a promotion to the Nationwide Series (now the O'Reilly Auto Parts Series). There, he accomplished the same two-step, winning Rookie of the Year in 2001 and the title in ‘02.
From 2002 to 2016—and then again briefly in 2022—he raced in the Cup Series, primarily driving the No. 16 Ford for what is now RFK Racing. His Cup Series career peaked in ‘05, when he won six races and finished as series runner-up to Tony Stewart. He added a third-place Cup finish in ’08 and a fifth-place finish in ‘12, building a résumé that landed him on NASCAR's 75 Greatest Drivers list in ‘23.
Outside of racing, Biffle was a helicopter pilot who put his skills to work for humanitarian causes, helping North Carolina after Hurricane Helene and Jamaica after Hurricane Melissa.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Greg Biffle, NASCAR Winner in Multiple Series, Dies in Plane Crash at 55.
