Motorsport legend and young family in fiery plane crash

American NASCAR legend Dale Earnhardt Jr has walked away unscathed after a fiery plane crash at a Tennessee airport.

Earnhardt, along with wife Amy and their one-year-old daughter Isla, was on his way to nearby Bristol to work as a television commentator for this week's US stock car race, when the small plane they were travelling in ran off the runway and caught fire upon landing at Elizabethton Municipal Airport.

Images have emerged on social media showing the plane on fire as crews rush to put it out.

Earnhardt was taken to a nearby hospital with cuts and bruises but there appeared to be no major injuries to him, his wife, daughter Isla and two pilots of the Cessna Citation plane.

"I can confirm Dale, Amy & Isla along with his two pilots were involved in a crash in Bristol TN this afternoon," tweeted Kelley Earnhardt, Dale Jr's sister.

"Everyone is safe and has been taken to the hospital for further evaluation."

ESPN reported that Earnhardt said he and his family were alright in a text message.

Investigation underway into Earnhardt crash

The Federal Aviation Administration issued a statement confirming it has started an investigation into the crash.

"A Cessna Citation rolled off the end of Runway 24 and caught fire after landing at Elizabethton Municipal Airport in Tennessee at 3:40 p.m. today," the FAA said.

"Preliminary indication is that two pilots and three passengers were aboard.

"The FAA will investigate and the National Transportation Safety Board will determine probable cause of the accident."

Earnhardt, 44, was a two-time Daytona 500 champion driver - in 2004 and 2014 - and is the son of the late US stock car racing legend Dale Earnhardt Sr.

The younger Earnhardt retired in 2017 with 26 victories on the primary National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR) Cup series.

This incident comes 26 years after former driver and 1992 Cup champion Alan Kulwicki died in a plane crash while on his way to the spring race at Bristol from a promotional appearance in Knoxville, Tennessee. That crash at Tri-City Regional Airport in Blountville, Tennessee, killed a total of four people.

Earnhardt was part of Rick Hendrick's racing team in 2011 when Hendrick broke a rib and a collarbone while on a small jet that lost its brakes and crash landed in an airport at Key West, Florida. Hendrick's son, brother and twin nieces were among 10 people killed in a 2004 crash of a plane traveling to a race in Virginia.

This isn't the first fiery crash for Earnhardt. He still has a burn scar on his neck from a crash at Sonoma in 2004 during warmups for an American Le Mans Series race that left him with second-degree burns.

with agencies