Lightning McQueen and Chick Hicks race to win the Piston Cup in Pixar’s Cars.
The Piston Cup is the championship prize for the film’s stock-car racing season. McQueen, Chick Hicks, and the veteran Strip “The King” Weathers finish the season tied, leading to a deciding race at the Los Angeles International Speedway.
The contest is important because McQueen is focused on becoming champion and securing the Dinoco sponsorship. During the final race, however, he stops to help the badly damaged King reach the finish. Chick Hicks wins after deliberately wrecking King, but McQueen refuses to accept the Dinoco offer under those circumstances.
The Piston Cup is a fictional competition inspired by American stock-car racing, especially NASCAR. Its name also alludes to piston-engine automobiles and became a recurring symbol of success throughout the Cars franchise.