Lightning McQueen competes for the Piston Cup in Pixar’s Cars.
The Piston Cup is the fictional stock-car racing championship at the center of the first film’s plot. McQueen is a rookie contender who ties with veteran racer The King and rival Chick Hicks in the season finale.
Because the three-way tie cannot be settled immediately, a tiebreaker race is scheduled in California. McQueen’s trip to that race is interrupted when he accidentally damages Radiator Springs’ road and is ordered to repair it.
The championship is inspired by the visual language of American stock-car racing, especially NASCAR. The Dinoco brand is a major sponsor in the Cars world, but Dinoco is not the name of the championship. In Cars 2, the international World Grand Prix takes the racing spotlight instead.