Josef Newgarden, the American driver, won the 107th Indianapolis 500 on Sunday in a wild finish after three crashes during the last 16 laps. The American driver passed the winner of last year, Marcus Ericsson in the final lap.
Felix Rosenqvist slid into the wall in a terrifying incident with 16 laps left. Kyle Kirkwood clipped the corner of Rosenqvist's vehicle as he tried to avoid the spinning Rosenqvist.
The race was again red-flagged after another crash at the start-finish area involving Benjamin Pedersen and Ed Carpenter.
With one lap remaining, the green flag was raised again and Ericsson extended his lead on Newgarden. Newgarden caught Ericsson on the back straightaway and sped past him to reclaim his lead.
Newgarden was able to sail smoothly to the finish, slipping through the fence and celebrating among the spectators. He then headed to the victory lane to receive the traditional winner's milk bottle.
Newgarden said, "I've wanted to be in the crowd here in Indianapolis" in a postrace NBC telecast interview."I've seen some people go up the fence. I wanted to go through the fence. I wanted to celebrate with the crowd."
Newgarden said, "I knew that we were in the position to fight for this victory, and I knew it wouldn't be easy." Newgarden started in the 17th position."It's not easy to win the race, it is the most difficult race to win in the world."
Christian Lundgaard flew through the pit box of his teammate and almost hit one of their crew members who was waiting to change a tire. Lundgaard knocked the spare tire onto the track after hitting it.
Colton Herta, then in fifth place, slammed his car into the side of Romain Grosjean, knocking him out of the race.
