By noon today, investigators recovered the bodies of five of the 10 people killed in a Patrick County plane crash Sunday, Virginia State Police said. The private plane, which was carrying members of one of NASCAR's most successful teams, crashed on its way to the Nextel Cup race at Martinsville Speedway.

The National Transportation Safety Board sent a "go team" of about a half-dozen people to the scene and has just begun its investigation. As yet, the team has no idea what caused the crash, said NTSB spokesman Terry Williams.

Associated Press photo Fog shrouds Bull Mountain and the press area at the staging area for search and rescue for the Hendrick Motorsport plane crash site in Patrick Springs, Va. The plane, carrying members of the Hendrick Motorsports family and team, crashed on its way to the Martinsville Speedway, killing all 10 aboard.

About 12:30 p.m. Sunday, the Beech 200 King Air airplane owned by Hendrick Motorsports crashed on its way to Blue Ridge Regional Airport in Henry County. On board were Ricky Hendrick, 24, son of Hendrick Motorsports chief executive officer Rick Hendrick; John Hendrick, 53, Rick Hendrick's brother and president of Hendrick Motorsports; Jennifer Hendrick and Kimberly Hendrick, twin daughters of John; Jeff Turner, general manager of the team; Randy Dorton, chief of the company's engine program; Scott Lathram, a pilot for NASCAR driver Tony Stewart; Joe Jackson, an executive with DuPont; and company pilots Dick Tracy and Liz Morrison.

State police spokesman Sgt. Bob Carpentieri could not identify which of the victims' bodies had been found this morning. The bodies are expected to be taken to the state medical examiner's office in Roanoke this afternoon, he said.

The plane crashed into a densely wooded area about 1.5 miles from Bull Mountain Road. The Virginia Department of Forestry created a path to the crash site using a bulldozer Sunday night. The site can be reached only by all-terrain vehicle, Carpentieri said. Earlier today, NTSB spokesman Brian Raynor said that debris was strewn across 200 yards and that there had been a fire. He did not give further details.

"We look at everything," said NTSB spokesman Keith Holloway in Washington, D.C. "The first thing we do and what the investigators probably are doing now is documenting the scene and the wreckage and photographing it to see what is still there, what is still intact and what things might have broken away."

See a closeup of the map

Holloway said it is too early to know whether the aircraft had a ground proximity warning system, and if it did, whether it was an updated version.

Two Patrick County pastors, Mark Wright of New Beginnings Baptist Church and Jerry Whitlow of Trinity Baptist Church, were on hand this morning at the staging area to console investigators and rescue workers.

Local rescue workers "are going to see some things they haven't seen before," said Whitlow. "They're going to need somebody to talk to."

Both pastors said their congregations prayed for the victims and their families Sunday evening.

"It's a shock to the community," Wright said.