CONCORD, N.C. -- (January 22, 2026) -- The opening round of the INEX Winter Heat Series was a weekend full of firsts, challenges, and lessons for Neal Dulin, as Legend Cars took to the full Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval for the first time. While the final result wasn’t exactly what Dulin and his team were aiming for, the weekend still showed speed, adaptability, and the kind of fight that defines a young driver’s growth.

Friday’s practice was about learning. With a fresh set of tires going on the car and a brand-new layout to figure out, Dulin showed top-10 speed while working through the unfamiliar rhythm of the Roval. After reviewing the video and making a few key setup changes, Saturday morning qualifying went in the right direction. Dulin put down a lap good enough for fourth out of 25 cars, though he knew there was still work to do, being about a second off the pole time.

Following qualifying, a trip through technical inspection added another wrinkle to the day. The car was found to be just three pounds heavy, and fuel calculations showed it would not meet the minimum weight at the end of the race. The fix meant adding a block of lead to the left side of the car, a necessary adjustment that came with a tradeoff.

Dulin got a solid start in the race, only losing one position early, but the added weight quickly changed the balance of the car. Grip became hard to find, and he slipped back as far as eighth while searching for a way to adapt. As the race went on, he began to adjust his driving style and settle back into a rhythm. Capitalizing on mistakes by others, he picked up two positions and set his sights forward.

From there, Dulin went to work. He outbraked Ryan Zima in the turn nine hairpin to break into the top five, then tracked down Arto Ojaranta. On the final lap, he pulled alongside on the backstretch and completed the pass through the chicane, crossing the line fourth after a hard, clean battle.

Unfortunately, the rest of the weekend was cut short, as all remaining races were postponed due to fading daylight and the threat of rain on Sunday. Even so, the weekend marked an important milestone for both the series and the drivers who tackled the Roval for the first time.

“I want to thank 860 Motorsports for setting up my car, my dad for working so hard all weekend, and the Lord for giving me this opportunity to chase my dreams,” Dulin said. “We had a fast car. But, when we put on the weight, it was tight in the right-handers and loose in the left-handers. We went back over the scales and rebalanced the car for race two, but we never got to run that due to time constraints. I'm really looking forward to going back to the Roval again to see what we can do with a car that's balanced right. It was a lot of fun to run on the Roval!"