A plane owned by NASCAR's Hendrick Motorsports organization crashed on Sunday near a small airport in Virginia, killing all 10 people aboard, police said.
Neither Hendrick Motorsports owner, Rick Hendrick, nor his teams' drivers were on the plane, but his son, Ricky, 24, brother, John, and two nieces were among those killed in the crash, a Virginia State Police spokesman said.
The Beech 200, on a flight from Concord, North Carolina, crashed in a mountainous area seven miles west of Martinsville airport in southern Virginia shortly after noon, Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman Marcia Adams said.
The FAA spokeswoman said the aircraft, en route to a NASCAR stock car race at Martinsville Speedway, carried 10 people, including the pilot and co-pilot.
The pilot had been given instructions to land at Martinsville but asked to do a "missed approach" or abort the landing.
"He received directions for the missed approach from a controller. After those directions were given he never regained contact with the pilot," said Adams. "They crashed into a mountainous, wooded area."
Hendrick Motorsports, based in Charlotte, North Carolina and one of stock car racing's leading organizations, includes top drivers Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson in its stable.
Johnson won the Subway 500 at Martinsville Speedway on Sunday but the traditional victory lane celebration was canceled after the team learned of the plane crash.
Several hundred NASCAR fans posted messages of condolence on the sport's official Web site, offering prayers to the Hendrick family.