Cause of NASCAR Driver Kyle Busch’s Shocking Death Explained

Kyle Busch, a NASCAR legend, died last week at just 41.

His family released a statement on Saturday, announcing his shocking death was caused by “severe pneumonia” that “progressed into sepsis resulting in rapid and overwhelming associated complications.”

“Extra” spoke with Dr. Armand Dorian, a clinical professor of emergency medicine at USC’s Keck School of Medicine, who said sepsis can be a hidden killer, spreading quickly without urgent treatment.

“Anybody can get pneumonia at any age, and when it progresses it turns into sepsis and then septic shock,” he explained. “So the reasons for the progression could be many. Most notably it is going to be when you have other medical conditions or you delay getting treated.”

He went on, “So what sepsis actually is, it is the complication of an infection… and when that progresses, it creates all these symptoms that we basically call sepsis. What that means is that your body starts to be unable to regulate itself, the blood pressure drops, your temperature… it drops below normal, you start becoming confused, and you go into shock, which is basically a state that 50 percent of the time you die from.”

Noting how dangerous it is, Dr. Dorian shared, “Sepsis is the number one killer for hospitalized patients, so it is not something new — it is very prevalent. It is just unfortunate when people don’t get treatment quickly enough.”

How is it treated? Dr. Dorian said, “Time is of essence. The main thing that needs to be done is you need to get antibiotics to start killing the bacteria that is inside your system, the second really important thing is to give you a lot of IV fluids… and finally oxygen… to keep you sustained.”

As for what symptoms to look for, he said, “Ominous signs are confusion, heart rate goes up, you start to feel light heated, your blood pressure starts dropping… your temperature starts to drop below normal... These are signs of septic shock. You need to call 911 and be seen immediately and be hospitalized and treated for that.”

As for his career in racing, the doctor noted, “There are a lot of studies done on G-Force… and there is no indication that G-Force makes any significance different in your immune system.”

Kyle has been using a racing simulator on Wednesday, the day before he died, around the time that 911 was called, but Dr. Dorian said, “I don’t think the simulator was the issue, he was really sick and hadn’t addressed his illness quickly enough.”

The 911 call revealed Kyle was awake and lying on the floor of a bathroom at the racing facility in Concord, North Carolina.

The caller stated, "I've got an individual that's short of breath, very hot, thinks he's going to pass out, and he's producing a little bit of blood, coughing up some blood.” They also confirmed, “He is awake. He's awake. He's awake.”