Lightning was giving the race everything he had. He was tight on Chick's tail, but Chick was doing everything in his power to block Lightning. There was the grind of scraping metal as the two cars rubbed together. "No, you don't—" Chick snarled¹.

 

Just then, one of Lightning's tires popped. "Doc, I'm flat," he cried. "I'm flat!"

 

"Bring it in," Doc commanded as the yellow flag dropped, signaling that there was debris² on the track. That meant the race was temporarily suspended; the other cars had to slow down and follow the pace car while the mess was removed. "Don't tear yourself up, kid."

 

Doc knew that they had to get Lightning back onto the track before the pace car came around. Otherwise, Lightning would fall behind again. "Guido!" Doc shouted. "It's time."

 

"Hey, tiny," one of Chick's pitties teased, "you gonna clean his windshield?"

 

Chick's pitties cracked up as Lightning pulled in. But Guido ignored them. This was his life dream— to give the ultimate pit stop. And he was ready.

 

In one fluid movement, Guido tossed the tires into the air and bolted them onto Lightning before they could hit the ground.

 

Guido looked at Chick's stunned³ pit crew and blew on his torque gun. Then he offered the only English he knew. "Pit stop."

 

"Guido, you did it!" Luigi cried as Lightning pulled back onto the track, moving into place behind the pace car.

 

"Did you see that, Bob?" Darrell cried from the announcers' booth.

 

Bob gaped⁴ in awe⁵. "That was the fastest pit stop I've ever seen!"

 

On the track, the green flag dropped, and the three cars surged forward, racing⁶ at a furious pace.

 

"This is it!" Bob announced with excitement. "We're heading into the final lap and Lightning is right behind the leaders. What a comeback!"

 

"This is it, kiddo," Doc said as Lightning closed in on Chick and The King. "You got four turns left. One at a time. Drive it in deep and hope it sticks."

 

His eyes narrowed in determination, Lightning headed toward the first turn.

 

"Go!" Doc cried, and Lightning did.

 

He pushed everything he had into high gear. Seeing his rival make his move, Chick cut quickly to bash Lightning against a wall. But Lightning was too fast; Chick missed him.

 

But Chick didn't slow down. Instead, he drove forward, ramming⁷ his front bumper⁸ into Lightning's rear. Lightning spun⁹ wildly toward the infield.

 

But Lightning wasn't about to give up. At the last moment, he cut right to go left, just the way Doc had taught him. With a smooth swerve¹⁰, he shot back onto the track—in the lead!

 

"Lightning has taken the lead!" Darrell announced to the audience. "Lightning McQueen is going to win the Piston¹¹ Cup!"

 

Chick and The King had fallen behind Lightning. But Chick wasn't giving up, either. If he couldn't win, he could at least come in second. "I'm not coming in behind you again, old man!" he cried as he rammed¹² The King, causing The King to spin into the wall.

 

Crash!

 

The crowd gasped¹³ as The King stopped in the infield, battered¹⁴, dented-, and unable to move.

 

Lightning was moving toward the finish line when he heard the boos. Confused, he looked at the giant television monitor and saw The King. He wasn't moving. An image of Doc flashed into Lightning's mind: Doc had looked the same way in the photo of the Fabulous¹⁵ Hudson Hornet's famous crash.

 

Lightning screeched¹⁶ to a stop right before the finish line.

 

"Yeah!" Chick hollered as he shot past Lightning. "Woo-hoo! I won, baby! Yeah! Oh, yeah! Woo-hoo-hoo!"

 

"What's he doing, Doc?" Flo whispered as she watched Lightning. He was inches from the finish line and still hadn't moved.

 

Suddenly, Lightning put himself into reverse and headed back toward where The King had come to a stop.

 

"What are you doing, kid?" The King asked as Lightning approached. He was completely wiped out, but not completely broken; Lightning could see that.

 

"I think The King should finish his last race," Lightning said humbly¹⁷. And then, as gently as he could, Lightning began to push The King toward the finish line.

 

"You just gave up the Piston Cup," The King pointed¹⁸ out, "you know that?"

 

"Ah, this grumpy old race car I know once told me something," Lightning said as he helped The King to the end of the track. "It's just an empty cup." Doc smiled proudly as he listened on his radio.

 

Meanwhile, Chick was hooting¹⁹ in triumph, turning doughnuts in the infield. "Woo-hoo-hoo!" It took him a moment to realize that no one was cheering with him. In fact, no one was even watching him. "Hey, what?" He stopped in his tracks. "What's going on?"

 

Lightning pushed The King across the finish line, and the crowd erupted in cheers! The stadium went crazy at the sight of one of the proudest moments in racing history.

 

"Way to go, buddy²⁰!" Mater hollered.

 

Fillmore teared up a little. "There's a lot of love out there, you know, man?"

 

"Don't embarrass me, Fillmore," Sarge grunted²¹.

 

The only one who wasn't impressed was Chick. He raced onto the winner's platform impatiently. "Come on, baby," he said. "Bring it out, bring out the Piston Cup. Ka-chick-a! Ka-chick-a!"

 

But nobody came out to deliver the cup. Instead, someone tossed it onto the stage, where it clattered²² to the floor beside Chick. No one cheered.

 

"Now, that's what I'm talking about right there, yeah!" Chick crowed. He looked around at the silent spectators. "Hey, how come the only one celebrating is me, huh? Where are the girls? Come on, where's the fireworks? Bring on the confetti!"

 

A confetti cannon²³ let out a shot and hit Chick's bumper hard. "Owww! Hey, easy with the confetti. What's going on? Come on, snap some cameras, let's wrap this up. I gotta go sign my deal with Dinoco," Chick said, starting to realize that no one cared.

 

The crowd started to boo.

 

"What's wrong with everybody?" Chick demanded as a few of the cars started throwing garbage onto the stage. "Hey! Hey! This is the start of the Chick era!" Chick finally gave up, grabbed his Piston Cup, and scampered²⁴ away.

 

But Lightning didn't pay attention to any of that. He was too busy pushing The King toward the Dinoco tent. Then, as The King's wife hurried over to give her husband a kiss, Lightning quietly headed to the Rust-eze tent. His whole pit crew had gathered there—along with the goofy brothers from Rust-eze, who had given Lightning his start in racing.

 

"You made us proud, kid," one of the brothers said affectionately.

 

"Congrats on the loss, me bucko," Mack said.

 

Doc smiled at the younger race car. "You got a lotta stuff, kid."

 

"Thanks, Doc."

 

"Hey, Lightning!" Tex Dinoco called from the front of the Dinoco tent. "How about comin' over here and talking to me a minute?"

 

Lightning drove over to join him.

 

"Son, that was some real racin' out there," Tex said to Lightning. "How'd you like to become the new face of Dinoco?"

 

Lightning looked up at the fancy Dinoco tent area. The helicopter gave him a wink²⁵.

 

"But I didn't win," Lightning pointed out.

 

"Lightnin'," Tex went on, "there's a whole lot more to racin' than just winnin'."

 

Lightning was tempted²⁶. It was everything he had always dreamed of. Dinoco was a great company with a lot of money. And Tex seemed like a really great guy. Still … Lightning looked at the Rust-eze tent, where the two brothers were telling their usual lousy jokes He couldn't help smiling.

 

"Thank you, Mr. Tex," Lightning told the mogul, "but those Rust-eze guys over there gave me my big break. I think I'm gonna stick with them."

 

"Well, I sure can respect that," Tex said sincerely. "Still, you know, if there's ever anything I can do for you, just let me know."

 

"I sure appreciate that. Thank you." Lightning thought for a moment. "Actually," he said, "there is one thing."

 

麦坤在赛道上拼尽全力。他紧跟在路霸身后，路霸则用尽各种手段围堵麦坤。两辆车碰撞在一起，发出尖锐的金属摩擦声。“不，你休想……”路霸愤怒地咆哮着。

 

正在这时，麦坤的一个轮胎爆了。他慌张地呼叫博士：“博士，我的轮胎爆了，我的轮胎爆了！”

 

黄旗落下，示意赛道上有散落的残骸，蓝天博士吩咐维修团队把其移出赛道。比赛将暂停一会儿。其他的车辆不得不放慢速度，跟在引导车后面等待残骸被清走。“孩子，小心把自己摔得粉碎。”

 

蓝天博士知道他们必须在引导车驶过来之前帮助麦坤重回赛道，否则，麦坤将再度落后。他朝着奇诺命令：“奇诺，是时候一展拳脚了！”

 

“嘿，小不点，”路霸的一名维修员嘲笑着说，“你是要给他清洗挡风玻璃吗？”

 

麦坤进入检修站后，路霸的维修员哈哈大笑起来。然而奇诺没空去理会，终极检修是他毕生的梦想。此刻，他已做好准备。

 

奇诺的动作十分流畅。他将轮胎抛在空中，轮胎还没落地就被他安装好了。

 

路霸的维修队傻眼了。奇诺看着他们，吹了吹自己的扭力扳手。接着，他献上自己仅会的一句英语：“Pit stop”。

 

“奇诺，你做到了！”卡布激动地说。麦坤返回赛道，跟在引导车后面。

 

“你看到了吗，鲍勃？”达伦在直播室惊讶地问。

 

鲍勃佩服得目瞪口呆。“这是我见过的速度最快的维 修员！”

 

赛道上，绿旗放了下来。三辆车健步如飞，朝前方奔涌而去。

 

“好样的！”鲍勃兴奋地说。“我们现在进入最后一圈，麦坤紧跟在几辆暂时领先的赛车后面。这场回归太精彩了！”

 

麦坤距离路霸和车王越来越近。蓝天博士对麦坤说：“小伙子，此时不追更待何时？你还剩四个转弯。一个一个地来，抛开杂念，把冠军拿下！”

 

麦坤下定决心，锁紧眉头。他朝第一个转弯冲去。

 

“冲！”蓝天博士发号施令，麦坤冲了上去。

 

他用尽全力，加大油门冲了出去。路霸看到对手已经发起进攻，他猛然变道试图将麦坤挤到墙上。然而，麦坤的速度太快了，路霸未能得逞。

 

然而，路霸没有放慢速度。相反，他加速前进，用前保险杠抵住麦坤的车尾。麦坤的车身大幅偏移，朝内场滑去。

 

但是，麦坤没有打算放弃。在最后关头，麦坤按照蓝天博士所教的，将方向盘向右打死，车身随之左转。一个漂亮的漂移，麦坤重回赛道并跑在最前面。

 

“麦坤跑在最前面！”达伦向观众们宣布，“活塞杯势在必得！”

 

路霸和车王落在麦坤身后。但路霸也没有放弃。即便不能赢第一，他也要努力赢第二。“老家伙，我这次不会让你跑在我前面！”他咆哮着向车王撞去，车王在路霸的撞击下翻滚着车身撞在墙上。

 

轰隆！

 

车王一直滑到内场才停下来，赛场上的观众们目瞪口呆。他的车身已经严重损坏和变形，车王动也不能动了。

 

麦坤朝终点线发起最后的冲刺，而此时，他的耳边传来车王撞毁的轰鸣声。他迟疑了一下，通过赛场上的大屏幕，麦坤看见躺在内场一动不动的车王。突然，蓝天博士的形象出现在他的脑海：当年著名撞毁事件照片中的博士看起来和车王一模一样。

 

就在即将冲过终点线的时候，麦坤一个急刹车停了下来。

 

“哈哈！”路霸欢呼着从麦坤身边飞驰而过。“哇哦!我赢了!哈哈！”

 

“博士，他在搞什么鬼？”芙蓉看着麦坤，小声对博士说。虽然离终点线只有几英尺的距离，麦坤却站在原地不动。

 

突然，他调转车身，朝停在内场的车王走去。

 

看着麦坤朝自己走来，车王诧异地问：“孩子，你知道自己在做什么吗？”麦坤明白，虽然车王的车身已经散架，但并没有完全损坏。

 

“我想，车王需要完成他的最后一场比赛。”麦坤谦卑地说。说完，麦坤轻轻地推着车王朝终点线走去。

 

“你放弃了活塞杯，你知道吗？”车王说。

 

“呃，我认识的一辆脾气暴躁的赛车曾经告诉我，活塞杯只是一个空杯子而已。”麦坤边说边推着车王朝赛道终点走去。蓝天博士通过无线广播听到麦坤的话后，骄傲地笑了。

 

与此同时，路霸正得意洋洋地响着喇叭，围着内场奔跑。“哈哈——哈哈哈！”过了一会儿，他才发现没有一个人为他的胜利喝彩。事实上，连关注他的人也没有。“喂，怎么回事？发生了什么？”他停下来大喊。

 

麦坤推着车王跨过终点线，赛场上爆发出雷鸣般的欢呼声！这一赛车史上最骄傲的瞬间使整个赛车场都沸腾了。

 

“老兄，干得好！”板牙欢呼。

 

辉哥的眼睛湿润了。“太有爱了，不是吗？”

 

“辉哥，不要为难我。”士官长含糊其辞。

 

只有路霸一个人不为所动，他迫不及待地登上冠军奖台。“来吧，宝贝们，快拿出来，快把活塞杯拿出来！咔嚓！咔嚓！”

 

然而，没有人出来为他颁奖。相反，奖杯只是被人扔在奖台上，任由其滚落到路霸的脚边。没有人欢呼。

 

“现在，大家可以听我讲几句，哈哈！”路霸狂笑着说。他看了看身边沉默的观众：“喂，为什么只有我一个人在庆祝，哼？美女们哪儿去了？烟花呢？把五彩纸屑都拿上来！”

 

一支彩纸炮狠狠地打在路霸的保险杠上。“噢！会温柔点吗？到底怎么回事，快拍照啊！我们快结束这里的活动，我还要去和岱诺可签合同呢。”路霸自说自话，他发现没有人关心他在讲什么。

 

所有的人开始对路霸喝倒彩。

 

“大伙都怎么了？”路霸说，一些车迷开始往奖台上扔垃圾。“喂！喂喂！从今天起就是路霸的时代！”他终于放弃了，抓起活塞杯仓皇而逃。

 

然而，麦坤无暇顾及这些，他正忙着把车王推进岱诺可帐篷里。就在这时，车王的妻子匆忙赶过来给了丈夫一个吻。麦坤悄悄地挪到旁边的除锈灵的帐篷里。他的所有维修团队都聚集在这里，包括除锈灵的一对滑稽兄弟，他们在麦坤起步的时候给予过帮助。

 

“孩子，你让我们感到骄傲。”其中一个兄弟动情地说。

 

“朋友，为失去庆祝！”麦克说。

 

蓝天博士微笑着看着这辆年轻的赛车：“孩子，你潜力无限。”

 

“蓝天博士，谢谢您！”

 

“嗨，闪电！”老德在岱诺可帐篷前喊道，“可否过来跟我聊一会儿？”

 

麦坤驶到他身边。

 

老德对麦坤说：“孩子，这才是真正的比赛。你愿意成为岱诺可新的代言人吗？”

 

麦坤抬头看着豪华的岱诺可帐篷，直升机也朝他眨了眨眼睛。

 

“可是，我并没有赢。”麦坤解释说。

 

“闪电，除了赢得比赛，还有更多值得追求的东西。”

 

麦坤心动了，这些都是他这辈子梦寐以求的东西。岱诺可是家大公司，资金雄厚，老德看上去也像是一位很棒的伙伴。然而，麦坤看着除锈灵的帐篷，两兄弟在那里讲着那些老掉牙的烂笑话。麦坤不禁笑起来。

 

“谢谢您，老德先生。”麦坤对这位显赫的大老板——老德说，“但是那些除锈灵的伙伴曾带给我巨大的机遇，我想我不应该离开他们。”

 

“好啦，我非常尊重你的选择，”老德真诚地说，“不过，你要记住，如果有需要我帮忙的地方，尽管找我。”

 

“我真的很感谢您，谢谢！”麦坤想了一会儿接着说，“事实上，真有一件事情需要您帮忙。”

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