In Pixar's Cars, Lightning McQueen enters the Piston Cup as a rookie contender.
The Piston Cup is the major stock-car racing championship in the first film. McQueen is a talented but self-centered rookie who has impressed sponsors with speed and wins. At the end of the season, he is tied with veteran racers Chick Hicks and The King, forcing a three-way final race in California.
The name is a fictional creation for Cars, although the races borrow visual and dramatic ideas from American stock-car racing. The film's championship structure includes pit stops, sponsors, a pace car, and a season-ending event. McQueen's Rust-eze sponsorship is central to his public image before he learns that teamwork and friendship matter more than promotion.
The Piston Cup should not be confused with the World Grand Prix, which is the international competition in Cars 2. It is also not the Dinoco 400, the decisive race in the first film. The championship is named after a trophy shaped like a piston, a detail that connects the competition to the automotive world.