Hamlin, Busch meet with Gibbs after All-Star strife (cont'd)

Hamlin said he knew his teammate was frustrated but doubted anything would have gone differently if the roles were reversed. He said Busch was as mad as fire at the beginning of their meeting after the race, but calmed down toward the end.

"I just came from the back with no practice and got back to the front where we needed to be and I felt like if gave up the lead right there I was going to give up the win," Hamlin said. "So I don't think Kyle would do anything different if he was in my situation."

Hamlin didn't hesitate to find the silver lining in the cloud either, explaining Saturday's tangle was a good problem to have between him and his teammate.

"For two guys to be wanting to go for the win like they are, it's really all we can ask for. Myself, I'm so confident that one of the two of us are going to win that 600 next weekend."

Hamlin said he conveyed to Busch -- that as a leader -- it was his job to do everything he could to win and said the All-Star Race was a much different beast than what a points race is. Moving forward, both drivers agreed that their organization and its unity were more important than letting their dispute linger.

"The one thing is we don't need to let it affect these [JGR] team guys. They work with each other inside the race shop and the important thing for me is that everyone gets along, because right now everything is going good between the 11 and the 18 on the race track," Hamlin said.

"We're both battling for race wins each and every week. This is like the fifth or sixth time [this season] we've been beside each other with less than 10 [laps] to go. This is not going to be the last time. What's good is we have an understanding of how we race each other.

"Whether it goes back to Phoenix or any other week, when two teams skirmish between each other and the two drivers don't like to talk to each other, all you do is go backwards. There's no doubt about it."

Asked about what changes now between the two drivers, Hamlin didn't see things looking much different on the horizon.

"We don't need to change anything that we're doing week in and week out. Kyle brought up a great point -- what should we expect when we come to this race? Do we need to have a meeting beforehand and say, 'OK, we don't share the same jerseys today, is it every man for himself?' My feeling was -- 10 laps to go, I'm afraid so, we're not teammates," Hamlin said.

"I think we both have an understanding of that and it's good from here on forward. Kyle is the most talented person in this garage and he gets it. He just gets a little hot under the collar sometimes.''

Gibbs later dismissed Bush's passionate discussion over the radio about Hamlin and doesn't expect any problems moving forward.

"I think in pro sports, if you've been on the sidelines or you've been in racing you're going to get people get mad about things. It's spur of the moment-type things. I think what was much more meaningful is we met in there," Gibbs said. "They talked it over and I think both of them expressed what they felt about what happened on the race track. I feel good about it and I think they're ready to go race as teammates.