LONG POND, Pa. -- A race-long battle between drivers from Joe Gibbs Racing and Richard Childress Racing came to a boiling point late in Sunday's Gillette Fusion ProGlide 500 at Pocono Raceway when Kevin Harvick tapped Joey Logano in Turn 3 while battling for position inside the top five.

There was tire smoke when Logano lost control and spun out, but even more smoke pouring from Logano's ears when he angrily attempted to confront Harvick at the track after the race ended in a green-white-checkered finish. A number of crewmembers kept the two drivers apart, as an irate Logano eventually stomped off in the direction of his hauler, tousling his hair as he sought the relative serenity of his crew quarters.

However, when he came out a few minutes later to face the assembled members of the media, this time Logano didn't pull any punches.

"[I was] racing the No. 29 and he let me go in the middle of the straightaway and decided to dump me in the next turn," Logano said. "I don't know what his problem is with me but it's probably not his fault. His wife wears the fire suit in the family and tells him what to do. It's probably not his fault."

The two had a similar incident in the Nationwide Series race at Bristol in March, and Logano admitted he's not sure why he and Harvick are feuding.

"It's ridiculous," Logano said. "I don't know what I've ever done to piss him off but he's apparently stupid."

So why did Logano confront Harvick after the race?

"He needs to know how I feel," Logano said. "I just wanted to go up and talk to the guy. You want to get out of the car, talk to the guy and see what's going on. And there are six-thousand crewmembers around you that you can't go up and talk to him yourself. How are you supposed to settle something if you can't talk to the guy? Which there's no talking to him anyway."

When asked his take, Harvick claimed it was merely a racing incident, although his answer hinted of something more.

"I got into him here going into [Turn] 3 and he just races with not giving people any respect and not much room," Harvick said. "So we just wound up getting together. It's unfortunate, but that's the way it goes.

"Yeah, I just got in there and we just wound up getting together. Just two cars going for the same space at one time."

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While Harvick went on to finish fourth, Logano had to rally from 30th to finish 13th, avoiding getting caught up in the last-lap fracas involving Kasey Kahne and a host of other lead-lap cars.

"It's disappointing, to be honest with you," Logano said. "We had a top-five run going. For us here, that was going to be awesome and I was pretty pumped up about it."

Logano said it helped to talk with crew chief Greg Zipadelli and team owner J.D. Gibbs following the race, and try to gain some perspective.

"They told me to calm down," Logano said. "You know, we finished 13th. We rallied back from 30th in two laps. At least we got something out of it. It's not a top-five like we should have finished but it is what it is."

The head-to-head battle between Logano and Harvick was just the final chapter of an intriguing duel between rival teams. Gibbs teammates Hamlin and Kyle Busch combined to lead 120 laps and post a 1-2 finish, while Harvick and Clint Bowyer tacked on another 64 for the Childress contingent, which wound up with all three cars in the top 10 at the conclusion of the event.

Logano and Gibbs were called to the Sprint Cup hauler for a post-race meeting with NASCAR executives. But Sprint Cup series director John Darby said the sanctioning body had no quarrel with what happened between the two drivers.

"We don't have an issue with Joey. We don't have an issue with Kevin Harvick," Darby said. "That's something that Kevin and Joey will work out. There's no reason for us to get involved. We didn't see any necessary harm or foul. Just a couple of drivers talking about what they're going to do tomorrow at the end of the race and everything was fine."

Instead, Darby, NASCAR president Mike Helton and vice president of competition Robin Pemberton had a short meeting with Logano's father, Tom, who was also involved in the incident on pit road.

"Mr. Logano, he did what he could do to restrain himself," Darby said. "At the last, he wound up interfering with the television broadcasters and that's not the right thing to do. And that's all that was, to explain to him, 'Look, you've got to stand back. You've got to let Joey be a race car driver. You have to have enough faith in the Gibbs team, Greg Zipadelli and all the other crew members to let them compete as a team.'

"It was a short message and I think he understands and we'll go on to next week."

Darby said no penalties will be assessed and Logano's hard card was not in danger of being confiscated, unlike at Fontana earlier this season. Darby said the meeting was an effort to give the elder Logano "good direction to think about."

"You can't deny the fact of a passionate parent," Darby said. "You have to appreciate that. But there also has to be a line in the sand as to how far that passion can go. All of our competitors are licensed to compete. They're licensed and given permission, in a sort, to not only compete as athletes but to display the emotions of that competition, after or before, whatever. And that's fine."