Neal came into the 2016 season with a National No. five ranking, which gave him fifth pick for start choice at round one. The Ohio native got off to a good start, where he settled into the second place position on the opening lap behind defending champion Walker Fowler. 

From there, Neal kept a steady pace behind Fowler but he wasn't able to make a move to take over the lead. After four laps of racing - for a total of two hours and seven minutes - Neal finished only 45 seconds behind the reigning champion Fowler.

"I'm very happy to put my Coastal Racing/MSR/Maxxis machine up on the podium for all my sponsors and especially for my new family - Coastal Racing. None of this would be possible without Scott Kiger, Barry Hawk and my mechanic Tyler King and I'm thankful for all the hard work and dedication they've all brought to the table this year."

In Side-by-Side racing, Pennsylvania's John Henry lined his Polaris-backed RZR 1000S up among a stacked field of drivers in the XC2 Pro Sport Class. Coastal Racing/CST/Racertech/Walker Evans team driver John Henry quickly put himself into podium contention on the opening lap, where he battled hard on the adjusted timeclock. Henry fell back to sixth on lap two but pushed his way back into third on the next lap.

Henry dropped one position on the final lap, where he ultimately finished fourth place in the class. Henry's top-five finish will give him a favorable start to the championship season.