Victory Lane
Lightning was on his way to a being the first rookie to ever win the Piston Cup when he looked up at the jumbo tron and saw that The King the had tumbled off the track. Chick must have gotten frustrated after falling behind. Things began to move in slow motion when McQueen remembered the newspaper article he saw in Doc's garage and felt obligated to help The King considering this was his last race. Just as he was about to pass the checkered flag he slammed on the brakes and stopped inches from the line. Seconds later Chick cruised by McQueen to win the Piston Cup, yet no one was celebrating but him. Everyone had turned their full attention to the bright red race car sitting at an idle inches from the finish. Not caring his chance with Dinoco was gone, he drove in reverse until he was behind the mangled legend. "What are you doing, Kid?" He asked with a muffled voice.
"I think The King should finish his last race," Lightning replied while pushing him slowly towards the track. The entire stadium remained silent as he nudged him to the finish line.
"You just gave up the Piston Cup. You know that?" Lightning didn't seem to care one bit.
"Ah, this grumpy ole race car once told me something, it's just an empty cup", quoting Doc from a few days before. Doc couldn't hold back his smile as he listened in. The crowd went crazy as they crossed the finish line. After Chick was booed off stage and Lightning had returned The King to his wife and race team, he drove away to allow the media to interview the old race car one last time. As he returned to his friends and sponsors he was greeted with applauds.
"You made us proud, Kid," one of the Rust-eze car commented.
"Congrats on the loss. Ey, bucko!" Mack stated. The group of cars continued to cheer him on as he approached them coming face to face with Doc.
"You got a lot stuff, Kid," he said proudly.
"Thanks, Doc." They shared a gaze for a moment until Mr. Tex called McQueen over.
"Hey, Lightning? How about coming over here and talking to me for a minute?" McQueen reversed and slowly drove over to him. "Son, that was some real racing out there today. How would you like to become the new face of Dinoco?" Lightning's eyes lit up when he heard his name and Dinoco in the same sentence. Looking past Mr. Tex imagining himself with blue paint and stickers. It was what he'd always wanted. His dream was about to be a reality.
"But I didn't win," showing a bit of confusion.
"Lightning, there's a whole lot more to racing then just winning." He didn't know what to say. All it was going to take was a simple "yes", but as he looked back at his current sponsor he knew deep in his heart that it would be wrong to leave the people who had taken a chance on him.
"Thank you, Mr. Tex, but these Rust-eze guy's over there gave me my big break. I'm gonna stick with them."
"Well, I sure can respect that. Still, you know, if there's ever anything I can do for ya, just let me know."
"I sure appreciate that, thank you." Then, he thought of something. "Actually, there is one thing," he stated with smile remembering Mater had always wanted to ride in a helicopter. Mr. Tex agreed to make the arrangements and wished Lightning nothing but good luck.