Lightning McQueen is separated from his transport on Interstate 40 in Pixar's Cars.
At the start of the film, Lightning is being transported toward California for the Piston Cup finale. He falls out of Mack's trailer during the night, becomes lost, and eventually reaches Radiator Springs. His attempt to find the highway leads him onto a road that brings him into the isolated desert town.
Interstate 40 is a real east-west freeway across the southern United States. In the film, it represents the newer highway network that bypassed many Route 66 communities. Radiator Springs' decline is tied to the construction of a highway that diverted traffic away from the old road.
The sequence is often remembered as a Route 66 scene because the film strongly celebrates that historic road. However, the highway named in the opening journey is Interstate 40. Cars uses the relationship between I-40 and Route 66 as part of its setting and historical background.