Greg Biffle Wasn't The Only NASCAR Person On Fatal Flight, Denny Hamlin Yells At Old Man & Bahama Bikini Time!
What an awful week for NASCAR.
Tough week for NASCAR. Tough week, frankly, for everyone. A lot of folks are still numb today. I don't blame them.
To steal a phrase from Mike Helton, we've lost Greg Biffle. Not only that, but his wife, and their two kids. Another plane crash. Another aviation disaster for NASCAR.
We still don't have a ton of answers today – four days after Biffle's private jet crash-landed in North Carolina – and I'm not sure we're gonna get them any time soon.
Who was flying the plane? What happened that made wife Cristina text her mom, "We're in trouble," right after takeoff? Was the plane properly inspected? Were the right procedures followed during what I assume was a hectic 7(ish) minutes in the air? Could this have been avoided? Who do we blame?
We probably won't get any of those answers until after the holidays, and even then, it'll be a while. For whatever reason, NTSB investigations seem to take years. But it doesn't matter. It's the biggest NASCAR tragedy since the Hendrick plane crash in 2004, and it's one folks in the garage will be dealing with for years to come.
Biffle, by the way, wasn't the only NASCAR person on that flight. We'll talk about it today.
Obviously, we're gonna get into our usual Monday stuff as well. It is Christmas week, after all. I don't plan on being gloomy all day. Just at the start. We'll end with the good stuff – like Denny Hamlin attacking Larry McReynolds and Taylor Reimer absolutely tearing a Bahamas beach to pieces.
In a good way, of course. Let's roll.
Four tires, enough Sunoco racing fuel to get us past this horrible part of the offseason, and some SPF 40 for Taylor … Monday Morning Pit-Stop – the ‘What A Miserable Week For NASCAR But We Have To Start Turning This Thing Around Because It's Christmas Week' edition – is LIVE!
Greg Biffle was more than a driver, and he was really good at that, too
By now you've read all the online eulogies and breakdowns of who Greg Biffle was. It's been four days. I assume that's all NASCAR fans have read since last Thursday evening.
I'm not going to sit here and write the same thing you've already read. I don't need to fill space today. It's the Monday before Christmas. We've got things to do.
Simply put, Greg Biffle meant everything to the folks in Western Carolina. He was there after Hurricane Helene when the federal government wasn't. Literally. He saved people STRANDED in the mountains with his own helicopter.
You wanna know how he did it? By seeing someone's reflection in the sky:
Insane. I remember writing about that one. What a pleasure it was to write it. It was always pleasure to write anything about Greg Biffle.
The first NASCAR race I ever covered back in 2016 was the Firecracker 400 when it was still a July race. First race ever. I was a young Big J reporter trying not to do something dumb.
Greg Biffle started on the pole as a 44-year-old. What a legend. Final pole of his career. He finished eighth.
And yes, I did do something dumb later that night. I went over to the infield care center to get quotes from some drivers after a crash, and walked right into the restricted area and smack-dab into NBC's shot of Jimmie Johnson and Jamie McMurray.
I got my ass REAMED out by some Big J PR person. Got a cool picture, though:
Greg wasn't the only NASCAR person on the plane
That's my only real story of Greg Biffle on the track, but I could go on for days about covering him off the track.
The Hurricane Helene stuff, obviously, made him a household name outside the garage. He dropped Easter eggs from his helicopter for kids last April. Literally just last week, he wrapped up his annual "12 Days of Biffmas," where he just gives out money to people.
This was his final Facebook post:
That should tell you everything you need to know about Greg Biffle. What a gut-punch. What a terrible, terrible loss.
Unfortunately, he wasn't the only one. We lost his wife. We lost his two kids. The NASCAR world also lost Craig Wadsworth – a NASCAR lifer who worked for Biffle for years.
He drove Greg's motor home. He was his right-hand man. He fixed things. He organized things. He made meals. He went with him on his many humanitarian ventures.
He was family. He was friends with NASCAR great Kenny Wallace, who told the Charlotte Observer he knew Craig was on the plane via his Snapchat story early Thursday morning.
"When I heard that the plane had wrecked, I immediately went to Snapchat, and oh my God," Wallace said in an interview with the Observer on Friday. "I started going through, and that last ‘Snap’ was one that just stopped my whole day."
It was of Craig, and the rest, taxiing onto the tarmac.
Wadsworth worked on several race teams throughout the 90s and 2000s, and joined Wallace's team at Furniture Row in 2008. He later worked for Michael Waltrip. He spent time in the SRX Series a few years ago. The last few years, he's been part of the Biffle family.
Craig Wadsworth was 64.
Taylor in the Bahamas, Denny in his feelings
Just a brutal week for NASCAR. I can't stop thinking about the kids. A week before Christmas. Makes me sick. Makes me sad.
Also makes me wonder … does NASCAR have a plane problem?
Alan Kulwicki famously died in a plane crash following his championship-winning season in 1993. Davey Allison was killed in a helicopter crash a few months later.
Obviously, the Hendrick crash in 2004 is the biggest one.
For those who don't remember (or who choose to forget), a plane owned by Hendrick Motorsports crashed in Virginia. All 10 people on board were killed, including team president John Hendrick, his daughters, general manager Jeff Turner, chief engine builder Randy Dorton, Ricky Hendrick (Rick Hendrick’s son), and the flight crew.
In 2019, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and his family were involved in a fiery plane crash, but everyone walked away. Barely.
NASCAR folks fly more than anyone else in sports. That's probably not a "fact," but it's gotta be close to one. They race 36 weeks a year. They're on the road all the time, sometimes multiple times throughout the week for sponsor obligations, interviews, team meetings – you name it. It's a lot.
Statistically speaking, I'd imagine flying is actually remarkably safe when it comes to NASCAR when you realize how many flights folks are on every single week. On paper, it looks great. The odds look great.
Life isn't on paper, though. It makes me queasy. I'm just saying.
OK, let's quickly turn the page to Denny Hamlin and Taylor Reimer, and then get our asses outta here for the day (week).
Petty Denny Hamlin! Yes! We needed someone to pick us up on a tough Monday, and Denny Hamlin delivered like the pro he is.
Taking shots at Larry McReynolds for not taking Denny's side in the court battle MONTHS ago is such a ruthless move. Leave Larry alone! My God. What do you want him to do? Say he's sorry? That's really what you want, Denny? To make Larry McReynolds say he's sorry on the air?
Then what? You'll feel all better? Like, what's the end game here? Why do you need LARRY MCREYNOLDS to apologize? You won! You won the battle. It's over.
Yeah, I'm sure Larry really lost sleep over it, Denny. Don't know how he's going to make it through the holiday season with this burden on his shoulders.
Thoughts and prayers!
OK, that's it for today. And this week. We have one MMPS left in 2025. Can you believe it?
Merry Christmas, everyone. NOT Happy Holidays! We say Merry Christmas in this class like patriots!
Take us into the big week, Taylor!
And Larry, of course.