With their race cars wrecked under caution, and Jeff Gordon stalking toward him on the backstretch at Texas Motor Speedway, Jeff Burton didn't know quite what to expect. He just knew whatever it was, it wouldn't be pleasant.

"I didn't know exactly what he was going to do, but I knew he wasn't coming over there to shake my hand," Burton said Tuesday, recalling the accident Sunday that led to a physical confrontation between the two drivers. "He was mad, and he meant for me to know about it."

That he did, with Gordon flailing at Burton before the two were separated by safety officials, and then leveling harsh words toward him in the media. But a few days later, the two drivers have not only talked, but been able to laugh about a bizarre incident in a bizarre day on the big race track in Fort Worth.

"Jeff and I have spoken. We had a great conversation. We ended up laughing a little bit about some of the things that were said and some of the things that were done. And Jeff and I are moving forward," Burton said on a conference call with reporters.

"I believe that he knows that we both had frustrating years. And there's no way that the frustration that the both of us -- and I don't want to bad talk about Jeff, let me be clear about that -- but the two of us collectively, the frustrations we had didn't play a role in all of that. For the part that I played in it, and I played the largest part in it, because I was the car that was second in line and the guy that was first in line got wrecked. So I had to take the ultimate responsibility for that."

How the accident unfolded, Burton still isn't exactly sure. The field was under caution when Burton's car came down the track and hooked the back of Gordon's, sending both vehicles into the wall and leaving Gordon to think he had been wrecked intentionally. Tuesday Burton reiterated that wasn't the case.

"He pulled up really close to me to let me know he wasn't happy with me. He went in front of me, and when that happened, I went to accelerate to go back underneath him to kind of do the same thing that he did to me. I don't know if he was decelerating and I was accelerating and I ended up in his rear bumper. Well what happened after that, I understand that part. That was just bad timing," Burton said.

"What I don't understand is after that. How the two, both cars, including myself, how we both ended up in the wall. I've watched the video a bunch of times. I really don't have an answer for you. I can promise you this, I did not intentionally turn Jeff Gordon driver-side first into the wall. I've raced since I was 7 years old. You'd have a hard time walking around and finding somebody that said I wrecked them on purpose. That's a dangerous way to wreck somebody. I think it's a malicious way to wreck somebody, and I've never, ever, ever been part of that."

As he did Sunday, Burton said he understood Gordon's frustration in the immediate aftermath of the crash.

"He's supposed to think that I wrecked him on purpose, because all the evidence says I wrecked him on purpose. So he obviously expresses his displeasure the way he did," Burton said. "And I'll be honest, I didn't have a problem with it. He didn't swing at me. I'm sure he wanted to. He was mad enough to, and I didn't blame him for being mad. You know, I grew up in south side Virginia. I know a thing or two about fighting. I could see in his eyes he was way more mad than I was. I was more confused about the whole situation."

Burton doesn't believe there will be any lingering hard feelings between the two drivers this weekend at Phoenix International Raceway, which hosts the season's next-to-last event.

"As far as I'm concerned, Jeff and I have had our conversation and we have no issues going forward whatsoever," he said. "But I'm not going to tell you what Jeff Gordon believes. I'm not going to speak for him. I feel comfortable that we had a great conversation. We had a chance to laugh a little bit and reflect on several things. I feel comfortable going to Phoenix and moving forward."

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