NASCAR legend Dale Earnhardt Jr. was a passenger on an airplane that caught fire after crashing in Tennessee ... and officials tell TMZ Sports he was transported to a nearby hospital.
The plane -- registered under Earnhardt's JR Motorsports -- crashed at Elizabethton Municipal Airport in Carter County minutes ago. No word on what caused the crash.
Officials tell us Dale Jr. made it off the plane alive ... but his current status is unknown. We're told there were other passengers on the plane, but officials do not have a complete passenger list yet.