Busch, Logano meet with NASCAR, try to move on

Kyle Busch and Joey Logano had their mandatory meeting with NASCAR Friday morning at Phoenix International Raceway to put last weekend's post-race altercation behind them. Upon leaving the NASCAR hauler, Busch met the media and gave the same answer with little variation to each question.

Said Busch, "Everything's great. Really looking forward to getting back in my racecar and being here in Phoenix."

NASCAR executive vice president, Steve O'Donnell, said it's the sanctioning body's job to bring the drivers together before the series resumes action.

"It's always our job to bring them face to face, and a lot of times versus texting to hear where drivers really stand is helpful," O'Donnell said. "The ultimate goal for us to make them clear of our expectations moving forward as head into this weekend."

After not receiving penalties for their post-race fight in Las Vegas, in which Busch took a swing at Logano, the two were called into a meeting with NASCAR officials before being able to get on track at Phoenix. Busch was angry following the Kobalt 400 after contact with Logano on the last lap sent him from a potential top-five finish to 22nd.

"Just really trying to explain I made a mistake underneath him, that's basically what it was," Logano said. "He asked for some data (from inside the car), I was able to show him that it was pretty clear, in my opinion, of what happened. So, that's that and we'll move and we'll start practicing in a little bit."

Logano has maintained the contact was not intentional. He called Busch earlier in the week to explain his side of things but said a face-to-face meeting also helps move things forward.

"I hope so, you never know," Logano said on whether Busch better understood the contact after seeing the data. "But I hope so. Hope he was able to see that and know that I was sincere about it. Time will tell."

O'Donnell said NASCAR also uses such data to determine if one driver's action on other were intentional.

"We do, but in this case, we saw two drivers racing hard, racing hard for position," O'Donnell said. "we were very clear on that as well with both drivers. We'd make the same call again this weekend if we saw a very similar thing coming out of Turn 4 for position – that's what NASCAR was built on."

As for whether he and Busch will be fine going forward, Logano said time will tell.

"We'll see," Logano said. "The only thing I could do at this point was plead my case and say, 'Hey, it was an honest mistake, it was hard racing at the end.' We're going to try to move on and all I can do now is focus on our Shell/Pennzoil Ford and trying to win Phoenix."