In the days since Dale Jr.’s terrifying plane crash in Tennessee – he has kept quite silent on the matter. For a while, there was just a few tweets and statements from close friends saying that Dale had reached out…and then came the official statement. But, nobody had heard Dale Jr. actually talk about it in a recording or interview.
Until now…
Investigators from the NTSB and FAA have been on-site to examine the crash of Dale Jr.’s private plane on Thursday, August 15th, 2019 in Elizabethton, Tennessee.
The Elizabethton Municipal Airport sits just outside of Bristol – where Dale Earnhardt Jr. was headed for his job as a news broadcaster for NBC Sports. He was scheduled to be working during this weekend’s race.
But, around 3 p.m. local time, tragedy struck – and the Cessna Citation that was carrying Dale Jr., his wife Amy, their baby girl Isla, dog Gus, and his two pilots crashed and burst into flames.
Miraculously, all aboard the plane were able to escape with nothing more than cuts and bruises. But the cause of the plane crash is still under investigation.
On August 19th, 2019 – just four days after the crash, Dale Jr. posted a statement to his social media accounts thanking everyone for their support, giving his family privacy, and the incredible first responders who really helped to secure his safety after the crash.
— Dale Earnhardt Jr. (@DaleJr) August 19, 2019
Now, for the first time ever, people will hear Dale Jr. as he addresses the plane crash in his own words, getting ever-so emotional during an added-on intro to his weekly podcast.
“Hey everybody it’s Dale Jr.,” he said, with some slow and deep music playing in the background. “We pre-recorded this podcast a few days ago with our guest William Byron – and obviously, since then, my family and I were involved in an awful accident.”
“Just wanted to let everybody know that, um, you know – we are so thankful for all the prayers and phone calls and everything everybody did over the last several days has really helped lift us up…”
It’s right about here, that you can tell just how deeply this accident has affected him. His voice sounds strained, and he trails off in a shaky manner at the end of the sentence before continuing on.
Listen to the full intro for his podcast in Episode 270: William Byron: The Next Big Thing below.