{"id":211548,"date":"2026-05-24T06:50:47","date_gmt":"2026-05-24T06:50:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/kyle-busch-died-of-severe-pneumonia-family-says-nbc-news\/"},"modified":"2026-05-24T06:50:47","modified_gmt":"2026-05-24T06:50:47","slug":"kyle-busch-died-of-severe-pneumonia-family-says-nbc-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/kyle-busch-died-of-severe-pneumonia-family-says-nbc-news\/","title":{"rendered":"Kyle Busch died of severe pneumonia, family says – NBC News"},"content":{"rendered":"

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NASCAR legend Kyle Busch<\/a> died of severe pneumonia, his family said Saturday.
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The 41-year-old driver died Thursday after he was hospitalized with a \u201csevere illness,\u201d his family said. In a new statement, they said Busch died of pneumonia that progressed \u201cinto sepsis, resulting in rapid and overwhelming associated complications.\u201d
On Wednesday, he was coughing up blood and lying on a bathroom floor at a General Motors training facility in North Carolina, according to a 911 call obtained by NBC News.<\/a>
\u201cI\u2019ve got an individual that\u2019s, uh, shortness of breath, very hot, thinks he\u2019s going to pass out and is producing a little bit of blood \u2014 coughing up some blood,\u201d the caller could be heard saying around 5:30 p.m. Wednesday.
Busch was on a simulator at a training facility that day, NASCAR CEO Steve O\u2019Donnell said.
Earlier this month, Busch radioed his crew near the end of a NASCAR Cup Series race in Watkins Glen, New York, and asked a doctor to give him a \u201cshot\u201d after he finished, The Associated Press reported. Busch had been struggling with a sinus cold that was worsened by the intense G-forces and elevation changes at the road course on May 10, according to the TV broadcast of the race.
Five days later, he won the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race <\/a>in Dover.
Busch, who was known as \u201cRowdy\u201d and \u201cWild Thing\u201d for postrace fights, leaves an indelible legacy as a two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion and the winner of 234 races across the sport\u2019s three national series \u2014 the most in racing history.
His death led to a wave of tributes from the racing community, celebrities and fans.
\u201cA future Hall of Famer, Kyle was a rare talent, one who comes along once in a generation. He was fierce, he was passionate, he was immensely skilled and he cared deeply about the sport and fans,\u201d the Busch family, Richard Childress Racing and NASCAR said in a joint statement<\/a>.
\u201cNASCAR lost a giant of the sport today, far too soon,\u201d the statement said.
He\u2019ll be honored at Sunday\u2019s Indianapolis 500 race, with the pylon lit in his honor for Lap 18, the number of his car.
Busch is survived by his parents; his wife, Samantha; son, Brexton, 11; and daughter, Lennix, 4.
In their brief statement on Saturday, Busch\u2019s family asked for privacy in the near future.
Marlene Lenthang is a breaking news reporter for NBC News Digital.
Matt Lavietes is a reporter for NBC News.
© 2026 NBCUniversal Media, LLC<\/p>\n

source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

news AlertsThere are no new alerts at this timeNASCAR legend Kyle Busch died of severe pneumonia, his family said Saturday.Subscribe to read this story ad-free Get unlimited access to ad-free articles and exclusive content.The 41-year-old driver died Thursday after he was hospitalized with a \u201csevere illness,\u201d his family said. In a new statement, they said […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":211549,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-211548","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-us","8":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/211548","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=211548"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/211548\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/211549"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=211548"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=211548"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=211548"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}