BUY TICKETS: See the races at Auto Club
FONTANA, Calif. -- A week after an on-track run-in with Austin Dillon, NASCAR XFINITY Series rookie Cole Custer, 19, maintained the two had found a version of racing Kumbaya.
The two drivers met with NASCAR officials early Friday morning at Auto Club Speedway, spoke their minds and shook hands, both ready to move on and race.
Custer acknowledged he mistakenly hit Dillon, 26, last week during the Phoenix race, which resulted in on-track retaliation by Dillon.
NASCAR did not feel Dillon's retaliatory move warranted a penalty this week, instead calling the two drivers in for a meeting and detente.
"I got into the corner way too deep," Custer acknowledged. "It was a mistake and I wish I didn't do it.
"I probably got in a half-car length too deep. ... Took him out and it was a mistake and I wish I didn't do it. I didn't have much anxiety (going into NASCAR meeting with Dillon) because I didn't think we were on bad terms. I wasn't too nervous. It went fairly well."
And he added with a slight smile, "I've been in the NASCAR hauler before. It's not a new thing."
WATCH: Custer sends Dillon into wall, Dillon bumps back
The Ladera Ranch, California, native has two top-11 finishes in four XFINITY races this year driving the No. 00 Haas Automation Ford for Stewart-Haas Racing and appeared eager to put the Phoenix incident behind him as he prepared to race at his "home" track Saturday.
"Cost us and the 2 (Dillon) a good finish, 100 percent my fault. Happy with how much better we got our car, pretty good there at the end," Custer tweeted earlier in the week before meeting up with Dillon at Auto Club.
Mostly, Custer is looking forward to his "home track" racing debut.
"I'm really excited. I've never raced here, just excited to get on track," Custer said. "We've had some pretty solid finishes, had good enough cars for top-10. Hopefully we can start out the weekend good.
"A lot of things translate from track to track. We're looking forward to seeing what we have unloading here. We should be pretty good. I'm confident. It's just me getting used to the track since I've never been here before."