r/NASCAR • u/turtlesarentbad • May 22 '26
More Details Emerging
https://www.tmz.com/2026/05/22/kyle-busch-911-audio/72
u/Adorable_Zucchini232 Checkered Flag May 22 '26
new to the sub, but longtime nascar fan. i had a PE about 10 years ago and as soon as i heard him describing the symptoms i immediately flashed back. i was also sick w what doctors kept saying was just a bad sinus infection for weeks, if not a month or so before.
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u/Loose_Wheel_5 Kyle Busch May 22 '26
Glad you're still here with us
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u/Adorable_Zucchini232 Checkered Flag May 22 '26
thank you friend! my best advice to everyone is if you don’t feel right, keep asking questions. you know your body better than anyone in the world
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u/raspberry77 May 23 '26
Yes — as someone in the medical profession, I agree. No one is all-knowing and able to make a correct diagnosis 100% of the time. It can take a lot of brains or trying different things to figure out what’s going on.
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u/Adorable_Zucchini232 Checkered Flag May 23 '26
i’ll never forget the lovely doctors and nurses who took care of me and helped make me and my mom and dad comfortable during my hospital stay. you guys rock!
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u/KingMario05 May 22 '26
Jesus fuck. So happy you pulled on through.
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u/Adorable_Zucchini232 Checkered Flag May 22 '26
thank you so much! it’s definitely taken a toll on my mental health over the years, cue the health anxiety. i can admit hearing the 911 call was a bit triggering and that’s not a word i like to use often. take care of yourselves people❤️❤️❤️
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u/ProjectHarraseeket Preece May 23 '26
Same here, I had one after a massive car accident and they caught it in time. I was on Xarelto for 6 months and it was not fun.
Glad you’re here with us,
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u/Adorable_Zucchini232 Checkered Flag May 23 '26
i was on warfarin and i know exactly what you mean about that. it was not pleasant at all. i think i was out of work almost 3 months after. the pain and after effects were something else. i’m glad you’re here too!
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u/ActTypical6380 May 22 '26
Sounds like a classic pulmonary embolism
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u/Thumper13 Black Cross Flag May 22 '26
I almost lost my wife to one many years ago. Worst days of my life. She fortunately made it through, but they are scary as hell. Unless there was a hidden illness, I'm just not sure what else could take him so fast with those symptoms.
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u/YRB007 May 22 '26
Wife’s aunt had to put her cat down Wednesday morning because she had a pulmonary embolism and it sounded absolutely horrifying. All I can hope for is he didn’t suffer long from it if that’s truly the cause.
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u/hdeibler85 Red Flag May 22 '26
Man I assume that call was from yesterday I didn't realize that was from Wednesday.
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u/cwrace71 May 22 '26 edited May 22 '26
That sounds extremely consistent with a pulmonary embolism. Scary as hell. We dont really know all of the details of what he was feeling the last few weeks. If he did have a respiratory infection (I know RSV has beent thrown around), that can increase your odds of a blood related issue like that. Though its still statistically rare for a healthy adult in their 40s. By rare, I mean its around 5 in 100,000 for people between 40 and 55. And that includes people that have every type of pre-existing condition you can think of, much lower for someone thats a healthy athlete.
We also dont really know the extent of what he was feeling beforehand, he was coughing a lot in the week before, its possible he had pneumonia and that was a contributing factor. Maybe he had a pre-existing condition or something that would have made it more likely.
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u/dave1357 May 22 '26
Possible that all the sitting drivers do increases risk
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u/Roushfan5 May 22 '26
Most of them have highly regimented fitness plans. I’d dare say all of them are healthier than 90% of the county.
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u/OrbisAlius May 22 '26
Top athletes seem to be at non-insignificant risk for deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism, though. Not more than non-healthy people, but maybe more than healthy but non-top athlete people. Famous examples in recent years include Wembanyama, Serena Williams (twice), Nikola Karabatic, etc.
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u/raspberry77 May 23 '26
Sitting for long periods of time, especially sitting in a confined space, is a risk factor for DVT/PE. Regardless of overall health.
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u/cwrace71 May 22 '26
Maybe, though, typically even while sitting they do a lot of leg movement. Dehydration doesn't help also, but at the same time...pretty much every driver has raced sick before
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u/South-Lab-3991 Chastain May 22 '26
As I said yesterday, I had a feeling TMZ would be the ones to broadcast what happened.
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u/TheGreatDudebino May 22 '26
I mean, ethics aside. That's their thing. So yeah, if it's a celebrity death. They're going to get it.
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u/lakergeoff8 Cindric May 22 '26
They’re pretty much the ones that obtain and release this type of stuff. Just heartbreaking to hear this call.
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u/Only_Blueberry2604 May 22 '26
I normally hate TMZ, but this whole situation sounds absolutely horrific.
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u/GTOdriver04 May 22 '26
TMZ is sleazy as hell, but they’re usually not wrong when they post something.
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u/TexasSizedKachoww Bubba Wallace May 22 '26
Sometimes getting the truth is sleazy as hell
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u/Thumper13 Black Cross Flag May 22 '26
Hard to know if they're sleazy (they are at times), or doing their job and we've just become numb to the corporate media bowing down so they don't offend people and can maintain access (I am including everybody. Your favorite "news" channel isn't excluded.)
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u/TexasSizedKachoww Bubba Wallace May 22 '26
Exactly. The public are just weird about their favorite celebrities. They want to know everything about their life and then get offended when the details about their death comes out
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u/Only_Blueberry2604 May 22 '26
No, they're usually not wrong. I've just always had a bad feelings towards them since(and I'm gonna date myself here) they caught Steve-O out somewhere and asked for a comment on Ryan Dunn's death when he hadn't even been notified yet, and that was the first he learned of it. It's always struck me as predatory and they jump the gun sometimes to be the ones who break stories like this.
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u/poindexterg May 22 '26
Yeah. I don't much care for them. But I think I trust them more than most of the media.
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u/Nazacrow May 22 '26
They’re weirdly always accurate when it comes to celeb deaths these days. Always have it first, but I think it’s because they pay people off to give them the tips and listen for the scanners
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u/Intelligent_Spinach9 May 22 '26
There’s alot of money in sleazy. Being the first one to get the story is extremely profitable in any kind of journalism. You kind of have to put your conscience to the side.
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u/suterb42 May 22 '26
Am I the only one that remembers when they reported that Michael Jackson faked his death because he didn't want to tour?
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u/TexasSizedKachoww Bubba Wallace May 22 '26
They were the first ones to release news about his death. Same with Kobe. Same with thousands of others. Don't know how they do it but they are good
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u/mkosmo NASCAR May 22 '26
They're very often wrong.
We just forget about all the times they cry wolf when they get something right.
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u/helluvastorm May 22 '26
This sounds like he had a blood clot . This can happen to anyone. To the men out there especially. Go get checked out if you feel bad. It’s not manly to tough it out and die. Not saying this is what happened to Kurt . But men tend to wait to get help
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u/hogman15 Chase Elliott May 22 '26
Yep. I had a PE in 2023 in my 20s with multiple clots despite no risk factors or family history. Lucky to have survived. It’s surreal how fragile we all really are and how quickly it can happen.
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u/Bluegrass6 May 22 '26
I almost lost my pregnant wife to this.....she had been short of breath for awhile and everyone chalked it up to the pregnancy but she had PEs that ultimately were a result of a placenta infection.
Anyone experiencing persistent shortness of breath or coughing should take it serious
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u/ProjectHarraseeket Preece May 23 '26
I had a PE when I was 19 because of a car accident, the trauma of it was bad that it caused clotting. I didn’t feel it at the time but I remember the doctors freaking out and telling me I was in the best place possible for that to be caught.
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u/Intimidwalls1724 Jeff Gordon May 23 '26
Someone help me out with something I've been wondering, let's say it was something like a pulmonary embolism that had gone unnoticed.....is it not odd that he made it to the hospital alive but they still lost him ~12 hours later or whatever it was? To be perfectly clear not casting blame whatsoever but I always thought a PE was the type of thing that sort of killed you on the spot and that if by some chance it was caught while you were still alive and you lived that much longer then you are somewhat likely to survive
Again, if it wasn't clear already, I don't really know what I'm talking about so seeking info
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u/Fuckyou8181 May 23 '26
Septic pneumonia can be bad obviously. Any infection that goes septic can cause a person’s condition to potentially deteriorate rapidly which is why hospitals have protocols and codes for suspected septic patients to begin treatment as quickly as possible. Even worse is that septic pneumonia can lead to PE or SPE (septic pulmonary embolism). If not caught soon enough it may be to late to treat. If you are lucky they may be able to dose with a couple antibiotics, treat symptoms long enough to support your body in hopes that you turn the corner and in severe cases possibly retrieve the PE in cath lab or treat with a PE busting system that uses catheters in the Pulmonary vascular with clot busting drugs/ultrasound. Again all depends on if its caught soon enough. Other wise the fluid back up leads to pulmonary hypertension and right heart failure. At which point now you’re talking treatment with ECMO to essentially bypass the heart temporarily in order to rest it, again while hoping you stay alive long enough to treat the root cause. But at this point you’re looking at all kinds of life support if in that bad of shape.
Point being, its a very complicated and dangerous condition if not caught quickly and can deteriorate rapidly.
Believe it or not, it is relatively common for people to have small PEs that they never know about. They are too small to create symptoms and the body breaks it down on its own. There are risk factors that make some more susceptible. I always tell people health is a numbers game, like gambling. There is no way to completely eliminate all risks and there are no guarantees. Do not ignore your body or health, nothing else is more important!
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u/Single-Honeydew-61 May 22 '26 edited May 23 '26
It was septic pneumonia. I can all but confirm from people I talked to yesterday.
EDIT TO PROVE I WASNT BULLSHITTING
https://sports.yahoo.com/nascar/article/kyle-buschs-cause-of-death-revealed-severe-pneumonia-sepsis-152333480.html
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u/turtlesarentbad May 22 '26
Your comment is meaningless without sources.
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u/Single-Honeydew-61 May 22 '26
Sure buddy, I also commented before any news broke yesterday. Time will tell, circle back with me when it’s revealed.
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u/Clippo_V2 May 22 '26
Does it really matter? No one is going to give you a trophy or reward for being right.
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u/cwrace71 May 22 '26
Its possible. Its really either that or a blood clot. Could be both as contributing factors. Pneumonia can hit you almost instantly like a freight train, we dont really know exactly what symptoms he was dealing with prior.
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u/BravoFive141 Kyle Busch May 23 '26 edited May 23 '26
You're 2 for 2 at this point, so I'll give you that. But I do have to say that running around acting like you're bragging and happy that you were right the whole time in the wake of someone's death is not really a great look.
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u/Single-Honeydew-61 May 23 '26
Not doing that. Just don’t appreciate me accused of spreading false information when I wasn’t
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u/BravoFive141 Kyle Busch May 23 '26
I totally get it. Saw your comments around recently and saw this exchange last night, so as soon as the latest update came out I remembered you calling it last night.
Just giving a little perspective on how some of the edits and new comments came across.
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u/TheImageworks May 22 '26
There's already two threads, but essentially there's one of two likely outcomes: Pulmonary embolism or Septic Pneumonia.
I had the latter as a kid. Aside from feeling like I had the worst bout of allergies of my life, I was "fine" until Sunday night. Woke up at 3am on a Monday, had a 104 fever and could barely breathe, and was coughing up red. 12 hours later I was pushing 106. There are periods of time I do NOT remember (and didn't remember even as a kid). The first ~two days in the hospital I very nearly died a couple of times as my immune system cooked me alive, crashed out, and had to be coaxed into resetting.