(CNN) — Josef Newgarden won the 107th Indianapolis 500 race on Sunday in a thrilling finish after three crashes in the final 16 laps. The American driver overtook last year’s winner, Marcus Ericsson, on the last lap.
A trio of red flag crashes marked a dramatic finish to the race.
When the checkered flag finally flew, it was Newgarden who took his first Indy 500 win, but getting there required a lot of drama.
In a terrifying scene with 16 laps to go, Felix Rosenqvist broke free and slid into the wall. As Kyle Kirkwood tried to stop Rosenqvist from spinning, he hit the corner of Rosenqvist’s car.
Kirkwood’s car slammed into the wall, flipped over and landed on the roof with sparks. The race was red-flagged, but neither driver was seriously injured.
In a terrifying twist, Kirkwood’s rear wheel detached from his seatbelt in the crash, leaping over the fence and flying over the packed grandstand, sending spectators ducking for cover.
The tire went down in a parking lot and damaged at least one car, but no injuries were reported in the crash, according to the NBC broadcast.
Josef Newgarden celebrates after winning the 107th Indianapolis 500 race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Credit: Marc Lebryk//USA Today/Reuters
Eight laps later, Pato O’Ward, Simon Pagenaud and Agustín Canapino were involved in a serious crash which resulted in another red flag being shown.
With four laps to go and Newgarden leading, there was another crash on the restart right at the starting line involving Benjamin Pedersen, Ed Carpenter and Graham Rahal, and the race was red-flagged again.
Ericsson passed Newgarden on the restart moments before the caution flag came out meaning Ericsson would be front row for the final restart of the race.
The green flag flew again with one lap to go and Ericsson initially extended his lead over pursuer Newgarden, but the latter caught Ericsson and quickly passed him to retake the lead.
From there to the finish it was smooth sailing for Newgarden, who slipped through the fence to celebrate among the spectators before making his way to victory lane to receive the winner’s traditional bottle of milk.
CNN’s Eric Levenson, Issy Ronald, Thomas Schlachter and Don Riddell contributed to this report.
