Lightning McQueen competes for the Piston Cup in Pixar's Cars.
The Piston Cup is the major stock-car racing championship in the film. Cars begins with McQueen tied with Chick Hicks and Strip “The King” Weathers after the season finale, forcing a three-way tiebreaker race in California. McQueen's urgent journey to that race leads to his accidental arrival in Radiator Springs.
The competition is a fictional counterpart to American stock-car racing. Its name echoes the real-world NASCAR Winston Cup and related championship traditions, though the film's racers, rules, sponsors, and results are fictional. Dinoco, the blue sponsor associated with The King, is one of the championship's best-known fictional brands.
The Piston Cup returns in Cars 3, where McQueen tries to remain competitive against Jackson Storm and the new generation of racers. It is distinct from the World Grand Prix, the international event featured in Cars 2.