NASCAR watching, but not policing, Hamlin-BK feud (cont'd)

Pemberton added that NASCAR perceived nothing wrong with Hamlin's "colorful" comments after Saturday's race, when he basically threatened retaliation for what he thought had happened.

"Everybody should enjoy [the comments]," Pemberton said. "And everybody should remember we're the sport where you can go stick a microphone in someone's face 15 minutes after something either really good happens, or something really bad happens. They're still pumped up, their adrenaline is still flowing -- and we get the natural thing when those things happen. That's not bad. Guys have personalities and it's OK to share that."

BK meets with CEO

Brad Keselowski is becoming a household name in NASCAR, so much so that Brian France wanted to have a face-to-face with the young driver.

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Keselowski and Hamlin had plenty to say about each other after Saturday's race.

Hamlin, in particular, was hot over the Lap 157 incident that started with Hamlin bumping Keselowski and ducking beneath him. Keselowski retaliated in the corner and turned Hamlin's No. 20 Toyota. Hamlin kept the car off the wall but had to pit and restarted at the back of the field on Lap 164, leading to a 12th-place finish after he had been running up front most of the afternoon.

"On the last restart there, Denny got into the back of me and pushed me up the track," said Keselowski, who went on to finish fifth. "I was going to return the favor. When he did it to me, I saved it. When I did it to him, he didn't save it. We just got into a pushing match. I don't really don't hold any grudges. I don't know why he wanted to do that. But whatever, that's just how racing is, I guess.

"To me, I was over it. I'm focused on running the No. 88 JR Motorsports car and trying to run up front, chase down Carl [Edwards in the Nationwide standings] and finish second in points. I haven't put a lot of thought into [the rivalry], but apparently he has."

Hamlin implied that he looked forward to having a shot at revenge in next Saturday's race, the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

"I can sit here and bash him for the next 20 seconds or so and give you all a bunch of sound bites, but I'm just happy that I signed up for next week's Nationwide race," Hamlin said. "And you know in turn, there are a lot of guys that owe him. There are a lot of guys that have a lot of chips that they're going to cash in; I'm just going to be the first to the pay window.''

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• Edwards wins at PIR; Busch title delayed; Hamlin-BK renew rivalry

Sporting News Wire Service contributed to this report.