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Dale Earnhardt Jr. talks injuries from plane crash: 'Bruised up real bad'

The NASCAR legend said he's dealing with some pain and "lots of swelling" following a plane crash in Tennessee last week.
/ Source: TODAY

Dale Earnhardt Jr. is feeling the effects of his recent plane crash.

The semi-retired racing legend took to Twitter on Wednesday to give an update on his condition after a fan asked if he planned to race in next week's NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Darlington Raceway in South Carolina.

“Yes. I plan on driving still,” he said. “My lower back is bruised up real bad. Lots of swelling and I just need that to go down and the pain to chill out. I been treating the area every day solely to get well to race. I have a plan B but hope not to use it.”

Earnhardt, his wife Amy, 1-year-old daughter Isla and their dog were on board the plane when it crashed last week at a Tennessee airport. Two pilots aboard also survived.

"The airplane basically bounced at least twice before coming down hard on the right main landing gear," National Transportation Safety Board Investigator Ralph Hicks said at a news conference a few days after the crash. "You can actually see the right main landing gear collapsing on the video. The airplane continued down the runway, off to the end, through a fence and came to a stop behind me here on Highway 91."

The plane has been transported to Georgia, where NTSB investigators are looking into what happened.

"It did not have a flight data recorder. However, there were avionics on board that recorded some flight data that's going to be very useful to us,” said Hicks.

Earlier this week, Earnhardt spoke out about the crash.

“Amy and I want to thank everyone who has lifted us up with phone calls, messages and prayer since last Thursday,” he wrote. “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. I am thankful for the quick response of my pilots, local law enforcement, emergency personnel and hospital staff.”

Earnhardt, 44, is a NASCAR analyst and commentator for NBC Sports. He retired from full-time driving in 2017 but still occasionally competes in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, a minor league circuit.