The Beech 200 King Air took off from Concord, N.C., and crashed Sunday in the Bull Mountain area seven miles from the Blue Ridge Regional Airport in Spencer, near the Martinsville Speedway, said Arlene Murray, spokeswoman for the Federal Aviation Administration.

"It's just very tough," said Donnie Floyd, an employee of Hendrick, who placed a bouquet of flowers outside the company's Charlotte, North Carolina, headquarters. "We are like one big family."

News of the crash halted Hendrick driver Jimmy Johnson's victory celebration after the Subway 500 in Martinsville as news of the deaths filtered through the Hendrick team, which also includes drivers Jeff Gordon, Terry Labonte and Brian Vickers.

The cause of the crash was not immediately known, but it occurred in rough, hard-to-reach terrain in weather described as "extremely foggy" by Dale Greeson, who lives about a mile from the site.

Hendrick Motorsports issued a statement late Sunday asking "that those affected be kept in your thoughts and prayers, and respectfully requests that privacy be considered throughout this difficult time."

National Transportation Safety Board investigators were to begin their investigation Monday. It was the second major plane accident in less than a week: On Tuesday, 15 people died when a commuter plane crashed and burned as it carried doctors and other medical professionals to a conference in Missouri.

Hendrick employs 460 workers at its North Carolina compound, which includes race shops and a 15,000-square-foot museum and team store. Flowers were placed on shrubs leading into the compound.