Scott Dixon won the Indy 500 for the first time in his career

Scott Dixon won the 92nd Indianapolis 500 on Sunday as the New Zealander held off the challenge of Brazilian Vitor Meira and American Marco Andretti.

Meira appeared ready to take victory, but Dixon beat him out of the pits on the last stop for fuel and stayed in front for the final 29 laps.

Dixon started on pole and led for most of the race to take his first Indy win.

Meira came second, Andretti was third, while two-time winner Helio Castroneves finished fourth.

"There were so many yellows there it was hard to get into a rhythm," said Dixon.

"I was trying to save fuel and the car had a little too much drag on it but as long as we got a good jump on those guys on the restart, I could stay up front."

Danica Patrick's bid to become the first woman to win the Indy 500 frustratingly came to a end in the pit lane.

She was clipped by Ryan Briscoe with 29 laps to go, breaking the left rear suspension on a car that had run in the top 10 most of the race but never seriously challenged for the lead.