A deadly plane crash, a burning home and a tense trial add up in NASCAR’s offseason of heartbreak

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — The new year began with a celebration of life for Emma Biffle, the 14-year-old daughter of one of NASCAR’s 75 greatest drivers who was among seven people killed when Greg Biffle’s plane crashed just a week before Christmas.

The service Sunday was standing room only as the performing arts center in suburban Cornelius wasn’t large enough to accommodate the turnout from the racing community and Davidson Day, the private school where many sent their children alongside Emma.

The heartbreaking memorial to a teenager lost in a tragic accident capped a month of sorrow for NASCAR with a new season just weeks away. The grieving isn’t over, either, far from it.

It’s not like the 2025 season ended on the highest note: Denny Hamlin was again denied his first Cup Series championship on a late sequence of events in the season finale that gave the title to Kyle Larson. When Larson was done with his post-race news conference, there was a toast in honor of Jon Edwards, a Hendrick Motorsports communications executive and mentor to many who died unexpectedly in April, a loss felt all season.

Then came December, usually the start of a quiet offseason in which teams and drivers and every member of the 38-week traveling circus unwinds. Instead, it opened with a bruising federal trial in which two race teams accused NASCAR of being a monopolistic bully; the Michael Jordan-led lawsuit included eight days of testimony that embarrassed NASCAR until the France family settled a day before Hall of Fame owners Rick Hendrick and Roger Penske were due to testify. The landmark agreement will change the current revenue sharing model.

The relief was far too brief. Biffle’s plane crashed Dec. 18 shortly after encountering an issue after takeoff from the nearby Statesville airport as the group tried to return for an emergency landing. Biffle was among those killed along with his wife, Cristina, five-year-old son, Ryder, and Emma, the only child from his first marriage.

In a letter written by Nicole Biffle that she was too grief-stricken to read herself at her daughter’s service, she agonized over her decision to allow Emma to fly that day knowing Emma wasn’t feeling well. She had purchased tickets to Italy as a Christmas present for her daughter the night before the crash.

Ten days after that tragedy, on the 52nd wedding anniversary of Denny Hamlin’s parents, the house he built to repay them for their years of sacrifice to get the future Hall of Famer to NASCAR’s top level, burned down. His father, Dennis, was killed. Mary Lou Hamlin was rushed to a hospital burn unit. Hamlin’s childhood racing memorabilia was lost along with his father.

If there was any animosity from NASCAR toward Hamlin, a co-owner of the race team with Jordan that sued the series, it dissipated in a heartfelt statement from the sanctioning body.

“Dennis Hamlin instilled a love of racing in his son, and sacrificed greatly to develop Denny into a world-class talent in the sport,” NASCAR said. “We also continue to offer our thoughts and prayers to Denny’s mother, Mary Lou, and hope for her full recovery.”

The racing community is a quirky one, with hundreds of people living not just in and around Charlotte but feet away from one another in motorhome parking lots in infields around the country for three-fourths of the year. Relationships can sometimes be contentious and grudges held for years, even decades.

But it’s also a community all too familiar with death and the dangers that come every weekend on the track. It is tight-knit and almost everyone looks out for each other or steps up in times of crisis and tragedy. There is a solemn pride in helping a fellow racing community member struggling with loss.

In times of tragedy, NASCAR rallies like no other community. And there is more sadness ahead before the racing resumes.

A public memorial will be held Jan. 16 for all seven people lost in the Biffle plane crash. It will be held at Bojangles Coliseum, a venue for Charlotte’s minor league hockey team that can be configured to seat more than 10,000 people.

Knowing the NASCAR community, it will be packed.