Kyle Busch’s family has now revealed what caused the sudden death of one of NASCAR’s most decorated and recognizable drivers.

In a statement released Saturday, the Busch family said Busch died from severe pneumonia that progressed into sepsis, leading to what they described as rapid and overwhelming complications. Busch died Thursday at 41 years old, and the family said it received the formal medical evaluation on Saturday.

“The medical evaluation provided to the Busch Family concluded that severe pneumonia progressed into sepsis, resulting in rapid and overwhelming associated complications,” the family statement said. “The Family asks for continued understanding and privacy during this difficult time.”

The update brings more clarity to a situation that had moved quickly and stunned the garage. Busch had been hospitalized with what his family earlier called a “severe illness” just days before he was supposed to race in the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. He died after becoming unresponsive while testing in a Chevrolet simulator in Concord, North Carolina, on Wednesday.

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According to people familiar with the situation, Busch had been working in the simulator when he began having trouble. The report said he experienced shortness of breath, felt overheated and was coughing up blood the day before his death. A 911 call obtained earlier by ABC described him as awake but lying on the bathroom floor inside the complex while emergency responders were directed to the scene.

That detail added another layer to a story that already felt hard to process because Busch had still been racing recently. Reports had suggested that Busch was thought to have been dealing with what seemed like a sinus cold while racing at Watkins Glen on May 10, and he radioed his team after that event saying he needed a “shot” from a doctor. Even with that concern hanging around, he still returned to win the Trucks Series race at Dover last weekend and then finished 17th in the All-Star Race on Sunday.

That sequence makes the loss hit even harder inside the sport. There had been some awareness that Busch was not feeling well, but the fact that he was still competing so recently clearly made it difficult for people around him to imagine this kind of outcome. Brad Keselowski acknowledged that he knew Busch had not been feeling right, but said those concerns faded when Busch raced again last weekend. Keselowski also pointed to the pressure athletes feel not to miss time because someone else is always ready to take the seat.

The larger scale of the loss remains enormous. Busch won 234 races across NASCAR’s top three national series, more than any driver in history, and his resume included two Cup Series championships. NASCAR announced that all 39 drivers in the field for Sunday’s race would carry a black No. 8 decal on their cars in his honor.

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The medical explanation also underscores how severe sepsis can become once an infection takes hold. Sepsis is considered a life-threatening medical emergency in which the body’s response to infection becomes extreme enough to damage its own tissues and organs. In Busch’s case, the severe pneumonia progressed into exactly that kind of crisis.

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