In Pixar's Cars (2006), which race car is the film's main character?

Lightning McQueen is the main character of Pixar's Cars (2006).

He is a fictional rookie race car whose number is 95. At the beginning of the film, McQueen is ambitious, self-focused, and determined to win the Piston Cup. A wrong turn leaves him stranded in Radiator Springs, where his relationships with the town's residents gradually change his priorities.

The character was voiced by Owen Wilson in Cars, Cars 2, and Cars 3. His design combines features associated with stock cars and modern racing vehicles, while his name pays tribute to animator Glenn McQueen, who died before the film was completed. The number 95 references 1995, the year Pixar released Toy Story, its first feature film.

McQueen is sometimes confused with real NASCAR drivers because his racing world uses familiar motorsport ideas, but he is an original Pixar character rather than a real competitor.