Kyle Busch 911 call: NASCAR star coughing up blood day before death
Editor's note: Read the latest updates on NASCAR star Kyle Busch's death here.
Kyle Busch was coughing up blood when emergency responders were called to a General Motors facility in Concord, N.C., the day before the two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion died, 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.
“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.
The caller identified the location as the General Motors Charlotte Technical Center off Speedway Boulevard in Concord, describing it as being next to Hendrick Motorsports. The Associated Press previously reported, citing people familiar with the situation, that Busch had become unresponsive while testing in a Chevrolet racing simulator in Concord on May 20.
Busch was transported to a hospital in Charlotte. His family posted a statement to his X account the following morning May 21, saying he had been hospitalized with a severe illness and would not compete that weekend at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
That evening, NASCAR announced his death. He was 41. No cause of death has been released.
Kyle Busch's health picture grew more serious in final weeks
The 911 call adds new detail to what had been an increasingly alarming picture of Busch’s health in his final weeks. On May 10, during a Cup Series race at Watkins Glen International, Busch radioed his crew near the end of the race asking for team physician Dr. Bill Heisel to meet him at the bus afterward. He wanted a shot. The FS1 broadcast noted he had been battling a sinus cold all week. He finished eighth in the race.
A week later, at Dover, after winning the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series ECOSAVE 200 on May 15, his 69th career Truck Series win, Busch addressed his cold on video. “I’m still not great,” he said. “The cough was pretty substantial last week.”
He ran the All-Star Race at Dover on May 17 and finished 17th. It was the last race he ever started.