Kyle Busch, who died on May 21 at age 41, was coughing up blood at a General Motors facility in Concord, N.C., according to the 911 call obtained by USA Today.
In the call, a man tells a dispatcher that Busch was on the bathroom floor, awake, but in distress. He said Busch was coughing up blood, short of breath and very hot. The caller asked that emergency responders turn off their sirens on arrival.
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“I’ve got an individual that’s (experiencing) shortness of breath, very hot and thinks he’s going to pass out and he’s producing a little bit of blood, coughing up some blood,” the caller told the dispatcher.
Busch died one day later at a hospital in Charlotte. No cause of death has been released. He is survived by his wife Samantha and children Brexton and Lennix.
Busch was testing in a Chevrolet racing simulator in Concord, North Carolina on May 20 when he became unresponsive according to a report by the Associated Press. His family posted a statement to his X account the following morning that he had been hospitalized with a severe illness and would not compete that weekend at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
Busch was a two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion with more than 200 victories in his racing career. He’s also the younger brother of Kurt Busch, a NASCAR Hall of Famer.
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What was Kyle Busch’s cause of death?
Busch was hospitalized with a “severe illness,” his family announced on May 21, hours before his death.NASCAR did not provide any other specifics in its statement announcing Busch’s death.
Kyle Busch asked to see doctor after NASCAR Watkins Glen race Busch radioed to his team during the Watkins Glen Cup Series race on May 10 that he needed to see a doctor post-race. FOX reported on the television broadcast that he had been dealing with a sinus cold.”Can somebody try to find Bill Heisel, the (inaudible) doctor guy? Tell him I need him after the race, please,” Busch said on his team radio at Watkins Glen. “… I’m going to need a shot.”
Busch completed the race, finishing eighth.
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Busch told The Athletic on May 16 that he was working through a cough.
“You can kind of still hear it, I’m still not great, but the cough was pretty substantial last week,” Busch said.
BUSCH CAREER: What made Kyle Busch, who died at 41, one of NASCAR’s all-time greatest drivers
Alex Daugherty is the Predators beat writer for The Tennessean. Contact Alex at jdaugherty@gannett.com. Follow Alex on X, the platform formerly called Twitter, @alexdaugherty1. Also check out our Predators exclusive Instagram page @tennessean_preds.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Kyle Busch 911 call: NASCAR driver update on cause of death
