For a small, rural, city-owned airport in North Carolina, Statesville Regional Airport has made its name in the NASCAR world. Reportedly, it dispatches at least thirteen 50-passenger jets each race weekend to transport between 600 and 700 NASCAR team members around the country. Since Greg Biffle’s tragic plane crash on the site, however, it has become the talking point in the country. Not for the best reasons, though. Amid the ongoing investigations, another incident has come to light from SRA.

“A lot of the industry takes off and lands at Statesville 33+ weekends a year. This year I had 1 emergency landing after taking off from Statesville due to a navigation computer failure. 1 blown tire on landing stranding us in Burns Flat Oklahoma for 5 hours,” Chase Prevatte, engineer at NASCAR Xfinity Series team Sam Hunt Racing, wrote on X.

“The lights on the runway not working causing us to divert to Concord. A fire in the cabin leading to an emergency landing in Woodward Oklahoma (dropped 25,000 feet in 3-4 minutes) All this season alone,” Prevatte continued in the comments. “Things happen, human error happens. But it happens a lot for folks in this sport. It’s gonna be tough taking off for Daytona in a couple of months. RIP to the Biffle family. We lost them far too soon.”

The city-owned SRA makes money by renting hangar space and selling fuel to about 100 planes at the airport, most of which, are used by NASCAR teams on Sundays.

Since it operates outside of Charlotte’s airspace and isn’t used for commercial flights, it doesn’t include features like TSA, a control tower, upgraded fencing, or security services, as confirmed by airport manager John Ferguson on a local podcast in June. He also revealed other runway improvements that were in planning and designing phase since November.

This evidence may add to the ongoing investigation of the Cessna C550 crash on Thursday morning.

The plane carrying Greg Biffle, his family of three, and three others took off from the same airport at 10:05 a.m. (ET). While attempting to return and land after less than 10 minutes of departure, it crashed, killing the seven passengers aboard.

Witnesses said the plane was flying very low and struck trees outside the airport and multiple light stanchions, then went through a fence. Although it is not confirmed yet whether airport conditions were a cause, the fresh facts of parallel incidents are still enlightening.

One of the black boxes from the aircraft carrying Greg Biffle has been found. According to Michael Graham, an NTSB board member, no mayday call was issued by the aircraft except an outgoing message by a passenger that said “emergency landing.”

After the impact, a fire consumed the majority of the aircraft’s fuselage and its wings near the fuselage. The wind was calm, but there were low ceilings and heavy rain at the time of the crash, which officials are looking into. A team of 16 NTSB experts is currently investigating the tragic accident.

While the administration continues its work, NASCAR reels under the impact of the loss. Even residents recounted the harrowing encounter.

Hear it from witnesses

Watching a disaster unfold may leave a mark difficult to scrub off. The Statesville Regional Airport, 40 miles north of Charlotte, has a busy neighborhood beside it. And several people who live directly across the street from the airport witnessed Greg Biffle’s fatal plane crash. Many saw the plane engulfed in flames and plumes of black smoke emanating from the crash site. Charred remains of the aircraft were still visible Friday afternoon from one couple’s front door.

“We all went to the front door and saw ambulances, fire trucks, cops, and smoke,” Chuck McCrary said about watching the accident from his home, shared with his girlfriend. “I was like, ‘Oh, man, that’s bad.’ It sounded like a big boom, like a barrel just exploded.”

Another eyewitness, who preferred to remain anonymous, also recounted their experience. “I saw where it clipped the tree and just hit the ground — it pretty much went down. Then, you could just see the ball of fire, and I just knew then I watched people on that plane die. I just didn’t know who it was until a little bit later.”

Greg Biffle’s disaster left scars on people both inside and outside NASCAR. With more clarity about his last moments, fans will be able to treasure his legacy properly. For now, NTSD and FAA are continuing their investigation.