Human!Lightning McQueen x Reader (Title TBD)

The Race That Started It All

The cameras kept switching between rookie Lightning McQueen, whose tire had just popped only moments away from the finish line, and The King and Chick Hicks, the other tied leaders for the season that were rapidly approaching.

Suddenly, another one of McQueen's tires popped. "Yes, yes!" You quietly cheered. You were not a fan of the rookie. You thought he gave racing a bad name. He was too cocky, too egocentric, too....stupid, reckless, and irresponsible. After all, he should've seen this coming. He was asking for it when he blatantly argued for no change of tires in the pits only laps ago.

Now, you didn't pick favorites when it came to racing. You loved racing as a sport and cared not about who came with it. However, you could definitely say you always Chick Hicks, and now you had a strong distaste for Lightning McQueen. But now, since today was The King's very last race of his career, you couldn't help but favorite a racer just this once. You wanted Strip Weathers to win this race, and McQueen's tired blowing out just seemed like destiny. The downfall of the rookie due to his cocky arrogant behavior and a blessing to the kind and admirable king of racing who deserved that one last Piston Cup.

"The King and Chick are coming up fast!" Darrel declared. The anxious adrenaline in his voice was clearly audible.

"They're entering turn-3!" Bob shouted.

The cameras went back to McQueen, showing just his close he was to the finish line. Well, so close but so very far in his state. "I don't believe what I'm watching, Bob! Lightning McQueen is hundred feet from his Piston Cup!"

"C'mon Weathers, let's go!" You smiled excitedly, fists clenched.

"The King and Chick rounding turn-4." Bob said. This was it! The final seconds, mere seconds, of the race!

"Down the stretch they come! And it's, and it's..." Darrell's voice trailed off and it seemed like the world started to go in slow motion. Neck and neck, The King and Chick Hicks entered the frame. It seemed like they cross the line at the exact same time, but surely one was an inch more ahead, right? And what about McQueen? He looked like he had just barely made it to the line before the other two, but it was so hard to tell considering he was crawling along the track at a snail's pace while the other two were absolutely rocketing through their speed gauge.

"It's too close to call! Too close to call!" Bob shouted, exasperated.

"I don't believe it! I don't believe it!" Darrell shrieked with excitement. The two announcers then began to loudly talk over one another, both clearly excited at the spectacle that had just unfolded. Never before had you ever seen anything like this in racing history.

You opted to mute the broadcast until either the post-race interviews or the race results, whichever came first, appeared because as it stood now, hearing nothing but nonsense as the announcers continued their overlapping excited exclamations was a little disorienting. You were dying to know the results of the race. You really hoped the winner was Strip Weathers.

After a few moments, an interview with The King started up. Filled with so much excitement, your fingers stumbled across the remote and took you a few seconds before you were able to unmute the TV. You listened intently to his hopeful yet humble responses. As always, he didn't quite care about whether or not he was the winner. He was just happy to have been able to live out his racing dreams, and more than anything he was proud to have his last race be his most exciting. He was proud of everyone who raced that day.

The interview ended and seconds later switched right over to Kori. "We're here in Victory Lane, awaiting the race results." You groaned when she turned to none other than the reckless rookie. "McQueen that was quite a risky move, not taking tires. Are you sorry you don't have a crew chief out there?"