The Dinoco 400 is a Piston Cup Racing Series race and a Piston Cup event. In Cars, it is the last race of the 2005 season, and it is held at the Motor Speedway of the South. Prior to the race, The King, Chick Hicks, and Lightning McQueen are tied in season points that determine the Piston Cup champion. A lot of stake happened here. The King was set to retire and pass on the Dinoco sponsorship to someone else, Lightning McQueen aiming to be the first rookie to win the Piston Cup, as well as Chick Hicks aiming to win his first title as well. However, due to a tire malfunction from McQueen, the race's results in the first three-way tie in the league's history. A three-way tie-breaker race is then set to take place one week later at the Los Angeles International Speedway.
History[]
Cars[]
Weathers, Hicks, and McQueen leading the pack,
Early on, Weathers, Hicks, and McQueen work their way to their usual positions at the front of the pack. Hicks and McQueen fight to pass one another, and their quarrel ends with Hicks performing a PIT maneuver on McQueen, causing him to spin out towards the infield. McQueen recovers quickly, and Hicks notices. Claiming that he is aiming to want Dinoco himself, he intentionally bumps Winford Bradford Rutherford, who collides with Murray Clutchburn, and soon everyone behind Weathers and Hicks are involved in a chaotic wreckage involving race cars, otherwise known as the infamous "Dinoco is all Mine" incident. However, McQueen carefully weaves through the wreckage, much to the awe of the audience.
After carefully avoiding the crash, McQueen stays out on the track and refuses to take tires while every other racer is doing so. During the 301st lap, McQueen finally reaches the pit row, only for him to ignore his pit crew and fuel up a small amount of gas.
The three-way tie between Weathers, McQueen, and Hicks.
When the final lap is announced, McQueen is close to lap the racer in last place, Slider Petrolski, showing how much he is ahead of everyone else. Right as announcers Darrell Cartrip and Bob Cutlass prepare to crown the champion, McQueen's left rear tire blows out as he rounds the very last corner. McQueen tries his best to maintain as much speed as possible, but he has slowed down immensely, which only worsens when his right rear tire explodes. Weathers and Hicks round the final corner during the race, and prepare to pass McQueen, who is desperately jumping towards the finish line. McQueen, Hicks, and Weathers all cross the finish line at the exact same time—causing the fans and announcers alike to excitedly speculate who was truly the winner.
Officials take time to study footage and determine a winner while the competitors take interviews and make sponsor appearances. The officials announce that the race has been called a three-way draw, and the three first-place finishers will compete in a tie-breaker race at the Los Angeles International Speedway one week later.
Starting positions (restart)[]
| Position | Number | Sponsor | Name |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | 95 | Rust-eze | Lightning McQueen |
| 2nd | 93 | Spare Mint | Ernie Gearson |
| 3rd | 28 | Nitroade | Aiken Axler |
| 4th | 121 | Clutch Aid | Kevin Shiftright |
| 5th | 117 | Lil' Torquey Pistons | Ralph Carlow |
| 6th | 90 | Bumper Save | Ponchy Wipeout |
| 7th | 43 | Dinoco | The King |
| 8th | 84 | Re-Volting | Davey Apex |
| 9th | 80 | Gask-its | Sage VanDerSpin |
| 10th | 74 | Sidewall Shine | Slider Petrolski |
| 11th | 58 | Octane Gain | Billy Oilchanger |
| 12th | 34 | Trunk Fresh | Dirkson D'Agostino |
| 13th | 61 | Vitoline | James Cleanair |
| 14th | 35 | Shifty Drug | Kevin Racingtire |
| 15th | 39 | View Zeen | Ryan Shields |
| 16th | 76 | Vinyl Toupee | Crusty Rotor |
| 17th | 4 | Tow Cap | Rusty Cornfuel |
| 18th | 56 | Fiber Fuel | Brush Curber |
| 19th | 36 | Tank Coat | Eugene Carbureski |
| 20th | 70 | Gasprin | Floyd Mulvihill |
| 21st | 86 | htB | Chick Hicks |
| 22nd | 54 | Faux Wheel Drive | Johnny Blamer |
| 23rd | 92 | Sputter Stop | Murray Clutchburn |
| 24th | 33 | Mood Springs | Chuck Armstrong |
| 25th | 8 | Dale Earnhardt, Inc. | Dale Earnhardt Jr. |
| 26th | 73 | Rev-N-Go | Misti Motorkrass |
| 27th | 101 | Tach-O-Mint | Greg Candyman |
Finishing positions[]
The scoring pylon, seen at the height of the speedway.
When Lightning McQueen exits the speedway toward Mack, a scoring pylon is seen in the background, casting the top eight placements:
| Position | Number | Sponsor | Name |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | 95 | Rust-eze | Lightning McQueen |
| 43 | Dinoco | The King | |
| 86 | htB | Chick Hicks | |
| 4th | 121 | Clutch Aid | Kevin Shiftright |
| 5th | 28 | Nitroade | Aiken Axler |
| 6th | 70 | Gasprin | Floyd Mulvihill |
| 7th | 92 | Sputter Stop | Murray Clutchburn |
| 8th | 76 | Vinyl Toupee | Crusty Rotor |
The top eight results mirror what can be seen in the last full shot of the other racers, as Chick and the King round the final corner
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- Despite having being towed out of the race, Chuck Armstrong strangely reappears in the restart lap. This is an error or somewhat a retcon however, as several other racers were also too damaged to continue racing, yet they still appear in some shots of the race.
- The pit row only has 19 team stands for the racers, even though there were 36 cars competing.
- Alongside that, very strangely enough in Cars, half of the racers pit crew team's are nowhere to be seen in the film, alongside lacking visible pitrow slots. Although despite this, its very likely that the said amount still has them, as every racer very importantly needs a pit crew in the race to have their tires changed, be refueled, etc. This is seemingly a plothole in the film.
- Pit crew members who didnt appear such as: Megan Shifter (Brush Curber's pitty), Mike Stockar (Lee Revkins' pitty), Bryn Imageare (Greg Candyman's pitty) were given diecast releases in the late 2010's.
- Strangely enough, for unknown reasons, in Cars, unlike any of the other Piston Cup haulers, the team hauler of Re-Volting is absent, while only its parking slot is seen (next to Haul Inngas'), and it in addition, oddly lacks its number.
- If Chick Hicks did win the Dinoco 400 alongside winning the Piston Cup, it is highly likely that Tex would still refuse to sponsor him due to having played dirty in the race and would still be booed for it. It is also likely that if The King did win, he would’ve passed on the Dinoco sponsorship to McQueen or someone else, presumably Cal Weathers but not Chick Hicks due to having hated him ever since.