Cruz Rameriaz

Initially, she is recruited by Lightning McQueen to help him train for the upcoming *Florida 500* and defeat a rookie named Jackson Storm.[4] After a series of attempts which prove to be unsuccessful to train McQueen at the Rust-eze Racing Center, the two participate in a series of events including unwittingly entering and winning in demolition derby and training at Thomasville with Doc Hudson's former mentor, Smokey, she races in the Florida 500 herself as McQueen's replacement sporting his number, which she eventually wins jointly with McQueen. After the race, she politely turns down Sterling's offer to join the race team, possibly in retaliation for underestimating her skills and joins Dinoco's racing team sporting Doc Hudson's old number (51), with McQueen serving as her crew chief.

Cruz is a kind, optimistic trainer for the Rust-eze Racing Center, first seen coaching a few cars on the treadmills. She is introduced by Sterling to Lightning McQueen, who enlists her help in defeating Jackson Storm after his big crash. She tells Lightning that she's a big fan of him, and grew up watching him on television (even referring to him as "[her] senior project"). She starts Lightning out with some simple exercises, though Lightning gets increasingly impatient by this and quickly goes on the racing simulator against Cruz's advice, though he ends up losing control of himself and crashes into the screen. After Lightning convinces Sterling to give him another chance to race, Cruz is sent by Sterling to join Lightning on Fireball Beach to train.

Cruz plans to use her digital assistant Hamilton to track Lightning's speed, but Lightning must stay close to Cruz for this to work. Lightning and Cruz spend the entire day on Fireball Beach, with the former ending up training the latter how to race on sand after Cruz fails to do this several times. They then successfully race to the end of the beach, with Lightning's top speed gauged at 198 mph, which is slower than Jackson Storm. Lightning decides to do further training at Thunder Hollow, with Cruz joining him.

When they arrive, both Lightning and Cruz go by the fictional identities of Chester Whipplefilter and Frances Beltline, respectively. Lightning is covered in mud to avoid paparazzi. However, the two soon realize that they are at a demolition derby, and it is too late for them to leave. They must race against the other participants in the derby, including champion Miss Fritter. Cruz is saved from death twice by Lightning, and is later declared the winner. However, she accidentally trips a water truck over, which splashes water on Lightning and exposes his true identity to the crowd and the world, as the events are reported on the news.

While they leave Thunder Hollow, Cruz tries to cheer up Lightning, who just stares angrily at her. When he finally does talk, he explodes in anger at her, saying that instead of training to be faster than Jackson Storm, he's too busy taking care of Cruz. Angry by Lightning's words, she orders Mack to pull over, and asks Lightning to ask her if she wanted to be a trainer her whole life. She tells him that her whole life, she wanted to be a racer just like him. However, her family didn't believe she should pursue this, and when she had the chance to do her first race, she got overwhelmed by fear of the other cars and left. Cruz then drives off on her own.

Later, Mack and Lightning catch up to her, with Lightning apologizing for yelling at her and convincing her to join him on a trip to Doc Hudson's home town of Thomasville. When they arrive, they do a lap on the dirt track where Doc used to race before meeting Smokey, Doc's old crew chief. He takes them to a bar, where they also meet fellow racers River Scott, Junior Johnson, and Louise Nash. They exchange stories about Doc's glory days, as Cruz learns more about Lightning's former crew chief.

Before Lightning starts training again, Cruz has tape put on her to resemble Jackson Storm, and starts way ahead of Lightning since he missed the qualifiers in Florida, and would have to start in last place. They race for three laps, though Lightning ends up losing to Cruz. Smokey teaches them other techniques, including maneuvering through a tractor stampede, and racing through a forest at night without their headlights on. Lightning and Cruz start getting the hang of both exercises.

Lightning, Cruz, Smokey, River, Junior, and Louise all watch footage from one of Doc's old races. They see that he uses a technique called drafting, in which he uses the barricade to flip over a rookie, who tries slamming him into the wall, to win the race. Lightning and Cruz do one last race before going to Florida, with Lightning able to go faster this time. However, he still loses to Cruz, and the two head off to Florida.

Lightning is joined by Cruz, Smokey (as his crew chief), and his pit crew as he starts the race. He moves up the ranks as the race progresses. Meanwhile, Sterling orders Cruz to leave the stadium because she's a trainer, which Lightning hears. He then quickly asks to get her back into the pits. Cruz gets a call from Lightning as she leaves, calling her to get back into the pits. Once she does, Lightning tells her that she's getting her first chance to race, remembering her story about wanting to be a racer. Sterling tries to intervene, but is towed back and distracted by Mater. With racing tires, a spoiler, and the #95 painted on her by Ramone, Cruz goes onto the track to finish the race.

At first Cruz become unsure about herself, but Lightning, now as her crew chief, reminds her about their experiences and training at Fireball Beach, Thunder Hollow, and Thomasville. With them in mind, Cruz's confidence rises and races past the others one by one. She gets into the top ten, and soon gains the attention of Jackson Storm. Jackson Storm then slows down to Cruz and tries to talk her down to minimize her confidence. Lightning tells Cruz that Storm wouldn't resort to such tactics if he didn't see her as a threat, and Cruz's confidence grows again.

In the last lap, Cruz is right behind Storm, and taunts her rival to anger him and cause him to lose his focus. Jackson Storm, getting desperate, rams Cruz into the wall and tries talking her down again. After being told she doesn't belong on the track, Cruz replies that she does, and then flips over Storm like Doc did, thereby winning the race and gaining huge cheers from the crowd.

Lightning and everyone else congratulates her on the win. Sterling tries to convince Cruz to race for him, which she quickly declines. Tex then offers her to be the next racer for Dinoco, which she accepts. Lightning and Cruz are both declared the winners of the race.

Back in Radiator Springs, Cruz now sports the Dinoco logo and the #51, a number which she says Lightning suggested. Meanwhile, Lightning shows off a brand new dark blue look as "The Fabulous Lightning McQueen", with both him and Cruz carrying on the legacy of Doc Hudson. Lightning, now Cruz's mentor, tells her that Tex purchased Rust-eze from Sterling, and that they now race for him. After a friendly banter between the two, Lightning and Cruz have a practice race around Willy's Butte.