It’s always hard to say that there’s anything good that came from someone’s death. It feels a little callous, a little dismissive of the hurt that’s felt by their friends and family and those who loved them.
But one NASCAR fan may not be here today if it weren’t for the shocking and sudden death of NASCAR legend Kyle Busch.
Busch passed away back on May 21, 2026 at the age of 41, just hours after it was announced that he was suffering from a “severe illness” and would miss that weekend’s upcoming race.
Immediately after his death, many began to speculate that his death was related to an illness that he was suffering during a race at Watkins Glen a couple of weeks earlier. During the race, Busch could be heard on the radio asking for a doctor to meet him after the race, saying that he needed a shot when he got back to his motorhome. At the time, announcers said that Busch had been dealing with a sinus infection.
The following weekend at Dover Motor Speedway, Busch confirmed that he was still dealing with the illness, which he described as a “severe cough.” But Busch was still able to compete at Dover, even scoring what would turn out to be his final victory in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race on Friday, just six days before his death.
Things took a turn for the worse just a few days later, when the driver collapsed during simulator testing at the GM Technical Center in Charlotte. During a 911 call, it was reported that Busch was “awake and alert” but was on the bathroom floor experiencing “shortness of breath, very hot, thinks he’s going to pass out, and is producing a little bit of blood, coughing up some blood.”
Busch’s family released a statement a few days after he passed away revealing that his death was caused by severe pneumonia that progressed into sepsis. And the medical examiner determined that Busch likely had pneumonia for “days to weeks” before his death, all while he kept racing and going about his business.
Well just three weeks after Busch’s death, 59-year-old retired NASCAR fan Joseph Mendoza was driving home from work in Sacramento while dealing with a lingering respiratory illness. Mendoza had been prescribed antibiotics and steroids, and despite the fact that the illness continued to persist, he was determined to avoid having to return to the doctor.
As Mendoza told ESPN:
“I would say I go if I have to, and my wife is bugging me, but it’s not my first choice.”
Well as he was driving home, Mendoza realized that he was feeling particularly tired and felt like he was falling asleep behind the wheel. And then he remembered what happened to Kyle Busch – and decided to go to the doctor:
“As soon as I remembered Kyle, I went, ‘OK, I’m going to go.'”
After going to urgent care and being sent to the hospital, Mendoza was told that, like Busch, he was also suffering from sepsis – and was just hours away from organ failure.
Mendoza says that he’s especially grateful to Kyle’s family and his wife Samantha Busch for their transparency in sharing the cause of death for their loved one, because without it Mendoza never would have realized that something could be seriously wrong:
“Samantha and the family making that news saved my life.”
Of course there’s no doubt that Mendoza isn’t alone in often putting off what could be life-saving medical care: I hate going to the doctor and most of the time when I’m sick I do everything in my power to avoid having to go. And men, especially, are more likely to skip the doctor for one reason or another.
Luckily for Mendoza, Kyle Busch’s death served as a reminder not to take your health for granted. And while it’s always hard to say that something good came from someone else’s death, it may have ended up saving at least one person’s life.
