Cruz Ramirez is the yellow training car who becomes a racer in Pixar’s Cars 3.
Cruz begins the film as a high-tech trainer at the Rust-eze Racing Center. She helps Lightning McQueen prepare for competition against Jackson Storm, a younger racer from a new generation. Although Cruz initially believes she is not suited to racing, her own skills and ambitions gradually become clear.
McQueen eventually recognizes that Cruz has the talent and determination to compete. He passes the opportunity to race in the Florida 500 to her, allowing Cruz to take the track in his place. She uses McQueen’s number and livery during the decisive race, making the moment both a competition and a symbolic handoff between generations.
Cruz’s story is one of Cars 3’s central themes: experience can matter, but it should also create opportunities for new competitors. She later becomes a professional racer associated with the number 51.