Dale Earnhardt Jr. Breaks Silence After Surviving Near-Fatal Plane Crash: ‘We Are Truly Blessed’

After he and his family survived an almost-fatal plane crash, NASCAR great Dale Earnhardt Jr. is thankful to be alive.

Since the crash made headlines last week, Dale has been spending some time away from the spotlight with his beloved family as they regroup from a private plane crash that nearly cost them their lives. Yesterday, Dale took to his popular Facebook page to break his silence on the crash and send fans an update on how he and his family are doing while also thanking everyone for their outpouring of love and support.

“Amy and I want to thank everyone who has lifted us up with phone calls, messages and prayer since last Thursday. We are truly blessed that all on board escaped with no serious injuries, including our daughter, our two pilots and our dog Gus.”

“With respect to the investigation, we will not be speculating or discussing the cause of the accident,” he continued. “I am thankful for the quick response of my pilots, local law enforcement, emergency personnel and hospital staff.”

Earnhardt ended the post by thanking everyone for the privacy extended to his family as they take time to “process everything.” Since the post went live on his account, it’s earned the 44-year-old a ton of attention from fans. So far, the post has amassed over 55,000 likes, 5,000-plus comments and over 4,000 shares.

Some followers commented on the post to let Dale and his family know that they are still in their thoughts and prayers while countless others applauded him for breaking his silence on the scary experience. A few others simply commented on the social media share to let Dale know they’re happy he’s okay.

“Take your time to heal physically and emotionally! So glad you are all safe,” one follower commented on the post.

“So thankful for your family and pilots safety. Definitely God was watching over,” another fan wrote.

As The Today Show shared last week, Dale, his wife, Amy, his daughter and his dog were all involved in a fiery plane crash at a Tennessee airport. Two pilots were also on-board the flight at the time of the crash. Video shows the plane bouncing a few times upon landing before crashing into a nearby fence and bursting into flames. Everyone who was on-board the aircraft survived and walked away with minor injuries.

Though the crash is still under investigation at this time, Elizabethton Police Chief Jason Shaw talked about the crash at a news conference shortly after it happened, saying that it was thanks to “the grace of the lord” that no vehicles on the nearby highway were struck by the plane. National Transportation Safety Board investigator Ralph Hicks also shared that the landing gear appeared to have collapsed upon arrival at the airport and that they’re piecing together what went wrong.

Thoughts go out to the Earnhardt family as they continue to recover.