Kyle Larson's No. 5 Chevrolet at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, March 2026. Photo: Nascar9919 via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0
Kyle Larson leads the NASCAR Cup Series by five points with three races left, and the seventh-place driver, Tyler Reddick, is 56 back, according to NASCAR’s Chase report after Phoenix. Larson put his No. 5 Chevrolet into the Turn 1 wall with a flat right-front on Lap 283 there, finished 34th and scored three points.
That fight ends at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Sunday, Nov. 8, at 3 p.m. ET, per NASCAR’s 2026 schedule. Five days earlier, the SEMA Show opens at the Las Vegas Convention Center. Five days after Homestead, the first motorcycles leave the start ramp in San José del Cabo for the 59th Baja 1000, according to SCORE International. The clocks below count down to each start.
Nov. 3, 9 a.m. PT, Las Vegas
Nov. 8, 3 p.m. ET, Homestead-Miami
Nov. 13, 1 a.m. MST, San José del Cabo
SEMA, Nov. 3 to 6
The show floor is open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday and 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday. The first three days are trade-only. A qualified industry badge cost $50 if bought by June 26, SEMA said in its April 29 release; the release doesn't define "qualified" or say what the badge costs now.
Friday is the public day. The ticket page lists $130 for the show floor alone and $170 with general admission to the SEMA Fest concert in the convention center's Bronze Lot (The Offspring, Jimmy Eat World, 311 and The Alive). The VIP bundle is sold out. You must be 16 or older, there are no day-of sales, and tickets can only be picked up Friday between 7:30 a.m. and 2 p.m. at South Hall or West Hall registration, with photo ID matching the order. That's $130 for a seven-hour day, with pickup closing two hours before the floor does.
The same page's hours section still reads "Friday, November 7." Nov. 7 falls on a Saturday this year, after the show has closed. It was a Friday in 2025. The ticket details and the main show site both say Nov. 6.
It's the first SEMA in the finished version of the convention center's renovation, which SEMA says covers 3.2 million square feet across the Central, North and South halls, including a 100,000-square-foot Grand Lobby built around a 75-by-42-foot screen. In June, SEMA called its 1.1 million square feet of indoor floor "nearly sold-out", with about 1 million more outdoors. It hasn't published an exhibitor count. The SEMA Fest site claims more than 2,400 vendors and 1,000-plus builds.
West Hall gets an expanded "Adventure Lifestyle" section for side-by-sides, motorcycles and V-Twin parts, next to the truck and off-road displays. A few builds are already public: Tucci Hot Rods' twin-turbo Coyote Ford Maverick, and whatever Chip Foose and Fox Factory are bringing, which they still haven't shown.
The Cup title, Nov. 8
For the first time since 2013, the Cup championship won't be a four-driver, best-finisher-wins race. NASCAR's 2026 Chase runs 10 races with 16 drivers and no eliminations, and the champion is whoever has the most points after Homestead. A win now pays 55 points instead of 40. Stage points are unchanged, 10 for first down to one for 10th.
That puts the most a driver can score in one race at 75: a win plus both stage wins. Talladega on Oct. 25, Martinsville on Nov. 1 and Homestead leave 225 on the table. On paper that keeps all 16 drivers alive, including Ryan Preece, last in the Chase at 211 back. In practice, NASCAR's own report calls it a seven-driver fight. Austin Cindric, eighth, is 130 back.
- Kyle Larson: leader
- Christopher Bell: -5
- Chase Briscoe: -24
- Denny Hamlin: -31
- Ryan Blaney: -40
- Joey Logano: -44
- Tyler Reddick: -56
Bell, Briscoe, Hamlin and Reddick have never won a Cup title. Larson, Blaney and Logano have.
Sunday's race at Talladega plays to Larson's weakest numbers. Larson has never won on a superspeedway, and his 30.6 average finish on drafting tracks this year is the worst of any driver, NASCAR's analysis shows. Reddick, who won Phoenix for his sixth win of the year and first since April, averages 5.4 in five drafting-track starts, with wins in the Daytona 500 and at EchoPark Speedway. Blaney has won three of the last 14 Talladega races. NASCAR is also halving the rear spoiler to 3.5 inches from what teams ran there in April.
Homestead hosted the finale from 2002 through 2019 before Phoenix took it for six years. Jimmie Johnson won all seven of his titles there. Phoenix hasn't been short of headlines on its way out, either: NASCAR fined Zane Smith $50,000 for his Phoenix run-in with Carson Hocevar.
The Baja 1000, Nov. 9 to 15
This is the first Baja 1000 to start and finish in Los Cabos and run entirely in Baja California Sur, SCORE announced last year. The start and finish are on Avenida Centenario in San José del Cabo.
It isn't 1,000 miles. SCORE's race guide lists 964.96 miles (1,561 km). Its Oct. 3 course announcement says 964.66. Either way, every class gets 40 hours. The four checkpoints sit at El Centenario (mile 213.60), Ejido Ley Federal No. 2 (405.39), Ejido Francisco Villa (604.07) and Santa Fe (781.49). The route runs through Loreto's malecón under a 37 mph limit and through San Isidro de Las Palmas, which SCORE says has never been on one of its courses.
The two SCORE documents also disagree on the clock. The Oct. 3 release put the motorcycle start at 1 a.m. PT and the car, truck and UTV start at 9 a.m. PT on Friday, Nov. 13. SCORE's homepage now says 1 a.m. and 9 a.m. MST. Baja California Sur stays on Mountain time year-round, and California falls back on Nov. 1, so if you're streaming from the West Coast, the bikes leave at midnight your time.
As of Oct. 19, 133 teams had entered from 30 U.S. states, Puerto Rico and 10 countries. SCORE expects more than 250. The largest pro class is Pro Moto Ironman with 21 entries; the three Trophy Truck classes have 23 between them. Online registration closes at 9 p.m. PT on Wednesday, Oct. 28, per the homepage (the Oct. 3 release said Thursday, Oct. 29), and in-person registration at SCORE's Ensenada office runs until 5 p.m. PT on Oct. 30.
Luke McMillin is on the list in the No. 83 Trophy Truck. He has won every SCORE race run in 2026, including the Baja 400 in September, and he already has three Baja 1000 wins.
Race week in San José del Cabo, per SCORE (local Mountain time):
- Tue., Nov. 10, 8 a.m.: Method Race Wheels qualifying for Trophy Truck, Trophy Truck 2WD, Trophy Truck Legend, Class 1, Trophy Truck Spec and Pro Ultimate UTV. Closed to spectators, streamed live.
- Wed. and Thu., Nov. 11 and 12, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.: tech inspection and contingency on Boulevard Centenario, free to the public.
- Fri., Nov. 13, 1 a.m.: motorcycles and quads start. 9 a.m.: cars, trucks and UTVs.
- Sun., Nov. 15, noon: awards.
SCORE still lists the awards venue as pending. Before then, the Cup title goes to the points leader after Homestead. Does Larson hold on to a five-point lead through Talladega, or does one of the six drivers within 56 take the Bill France Cup?
Sources: NASCAR Chase report and analysis (Oct. 19 and 21, 2026), NASCAR Chase format explainer, NASCAR 2026 Cup schedule; SEMA Show site and public-day ticket page, SEMA releases of April 21, April 29 and June 11, 2026; SCORE International homepage, race guide and releases of Sept. 2025 and Oct. 3, 2026.
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