Carlos Apdaly Lopez ended his Trophy Truck Spec wait at the Baja 400, beating Mike Marsal by 51 seconds before November’s finale.
Carlos Apdaly Lopez moved into the Baja 1000 conversation by winning Trophy Truck Spec at the seventh SCORE Baja 400, ending his long wait for a first victory in the class.
Lopez covered the 423.42-mile course in 9 hours, 20 minutes, 22 seconds in the No. 273 Brenthel Chevy Silverado. He beat a 29-team field and finished only 51 seconds ahead of Mike Marsal, producing a remarkably tight result in one of the Baja 400’s largest classes after more than nine hours of racing.
Lopez converts experience into a Spec victory
The win added another class victory to a career that already includes three SCORE Trophy Truck championships. Lopez claimed those titles in 2015, 2016 and 2017, and he remains the only Mexican racer to win three championships in the premier division.
His Sept. 13 breakthrough came in the restricted Trophy Truck Spec category, where two-wheel-drive trucks run sealed stock or crate gasoline engines. Lopez drove a Brenthel-built Chevy Silverado.
The victory also shifted the immediate outlook for the No. 273 crew ahead of the championship finale. Next is the 59th SCORE Baja 1000, scheduled for Nov. 9 through Nov. 15 in San Jose del Cabo, Baja California Sur.
The confirmed result did not include a new post-Baja 400 championship table, so Lopez’s exact points position has not been established. The available standings, labeled through the San Felipe 250, place him 10th with 218 points.
Marsal falls 51 seconds short
Marsal earned his first podium of the 2026 SCORE season in the No. 236 Brenthel Chevy, recording a time of 9 hours, 21 minutes, 13 seconds.
He finished 51 seconds behind Lopez.
Two Brenthel Chevys were separated by that margin at the front after 164 teams started across all categories and 102 were classified as finishers. The 62 percent finishing rate showed the toll taken by a Baja 400 route that passed through areas including Ojos Negros, Mike’s Sky Ranch, San Quintin, Erendira Beach and Ejido Uruapan.
Marsal sat sixth in the earlier Trophy Truck Spec standings with 231 points. The same table placed him 14 points behind leader Brent Fox, but those numbers predate the Baja 500 and Baja 400 and do not provide a current picture of the title race.
Davis claims another podium
Justin Davis rounded out the Trophy Truck Spec podium in the No. 285 Green Army Motorsports TSCO-Ford.
Davis entered the later rounds of the season from third in the standings table labeled through the San Felipe 250. He held 239 points, trailing Fox on 245 and Trey Gibbs on 244. Bryce Swaim was next with 237, while Travis PeCoy had 235.
No elapsed time for Davis appears in the confirmed Baja 400 result, which prevents a verified calculation of his deficit to Lopez or Marsal. His third place is confirmed and puts him among the podium finishers entering the final race on the four-round schedule.
Fox and Gibbs were one point apart in that earlier table, while 14 points covered the top six drivers through Marsal. Updated totals after all three completed rounds are required before the mathematical Baja 1000 title scenarios can be set.
A packed class heads to the finale
Trophy Truck Spec attracted 29 teams at the Baja 400, making the class battle a distinct focus alongside Luke McMillin’s overall and SCORE Trophy Truck victory. McMillin finished in 8 hours, 40 minutes, 50 seconds. Lopez arrived 39 minutes, 32 seconds later in his restricted-engine truck.
The Spec category retains a full-tube chassis and long-travel off-road suspension, while restricting competitors to two-wheel drive and an approved gasoline engine. The formula has drawn a wide field, with 40 drivers listed on the published 2026 points table through the San Felipe 250.
Lopez emerged as a new winner from that group. Marsal advanced his season with a runner-up result, while Davis took a podium after starting the year among the championship leaders.
Baja 1000 is next
The season heads south for a Baja 1000 that differs from previous editions. For the first time, the Nov. 9 to Nov. 15 event will take place entirely within Baja California Sur, with San Jose del Cabo listed as the location.
More than 220 teams from 18 countries are expected to contest the finale.
Lopez will arrive with his first Trophy Truck Spec win, Marsal with his first podium of the season, and Davis coming off a third-place finish. Their next confirmed competitive appointment starts during Baja 1000 race week on Nov. 9.
