![\"NASCAR](\"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/Mike-Stefanik-Feature-IMG-min.jpg\")
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One of the most successful open wheel modified drivers in NASCAR history died in a plane crash this past weekend near the border of Connecticut and Rhode Island. The 61-year-old driver, who became famous for arguing with Steve Park after he bumped Stefanik at the conclusion of the 2013 Battle UNOH Battle at the Beach, was piloting a single-engine ultralight aircraft when it crashed in a field near the border of Connecticut and Rhode Island.<\/p>\n
A witness noticed the aircraft flying near the tops of trees before it crash landed in the Connecticut field. Despite being conscious when emergency responders arrived, Stefanik died at a nearby hospital shortly after arrival.<\/p>\n
Following his death, both NASCAR officials and drivers have begun to offer their support and condolences.<\/p>\n
\u201cMike Stefanik was one of the most successful drivers in NASCAR history, but even more so, he was a true representative of our sport,\u201d said NASCAR Chairman and CEO Jim France.<\/p>\n
Retired NASCAR Cup Series driver Dale Earnhardt Jr., who recently survived his own frightening plane crash, also expressed his sorrow.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis just breaks my heart,\u201d said Earnhardt. \u201cI hope that his family and friends can find some peace and comfort in the coming days.\u201d<\/p>\n
We at RacingJunk send our condolences to this driver\u2019s friends and family as well as his entire racing family. We’ll provide additional news about this crash as it becomes available.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
One of the most successful open wheel modified drivers in NASCAR history died in a plane crash this past weekend near the border of Connecticut and Rhode Island.<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":39,"featured_media":65278,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3424,3470],"tags":[5482,1619,7133,127,41,1343,2881,1632,2914],"class_list":["post-65277","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nascar","category-news","tag-deaths","tag-ellen-richardson","tag-mike-stefanik","tag-nascar","tag-news","tag-obituary","tag-open-wheel","tag-racing","tag-rip"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/Mike-Stefanik-Feature-IMG-min.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p42YSK-gYR","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65277","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/39"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=65277"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65277\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":65279,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65277\/revisions\/65279"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/65278"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=65277"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=65277"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=65277"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}