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AVONDALE, Ariz. — NASCAR officials met with Brad Keselowski and Denny Hamlin before Sunday's race to discuss their incident during Saturday's Nationwide race. It wasn't the first time they've had a run-in on the track.

Hamlin hit Keselowski in the middle of turns 1 and 2 during the Nationwide race. Keselowski returned the favor in turns 3 and 4. Another contact from Keselowski spun Hamlin.

Hamlin and Keselowski briefly spoke after the race with two series officials standing next to them.

Afterward, Hamlin was critical of Keselowski.

"I'm just happy that I signed up for next week's Nationwide race," Hamlin said of the season finale in Homestead. "There's a lot of guys that owe him. There's 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."

Hamlin also said that Keselowski was "a complete moron."

Keselowski's response?

"I don't really want to engage that," he said after spending about 20 minutes with series officials Sunday morning.

Keselowski said the message from series officials in the meeting was simple.

"I think the biggest message was ... just trying to pick and choose who you want to be your friends and enemies in the sport and making sure that I understood that process."

Even with the experience, Keselowski said it wouldn't alter his aggressive driving style.

"Being aggressive is what got me here," he said. "Nobody has handed me anything in my career. I've dug and clawed for everything I've got and the only way to do that is by being aggressive. So that's not to say I need to be aggressive every race. No. There's races where you need to play it cool and be smart. So it's just trying to learn that timing and learning who you need to be your friends and who you can accept as being your enemies no matter what you do."

EARLY SCARE: Five members of Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s team were involved in an accident going to the track Sunday morning. Their vehicle was hit. All five were treated and released at the infield care center upon arriving at the track.

PIT STOPS: Martin Truex Jr.'s fifth-place finish was his second top-10 finish since Darlington in May. ... Clint Bowyer's seventh-place finish was his fourth top-10 in the last six races. ... Dale Earnhardt Jr. blamed an oil leak that caused him to spin and collect six other cars. Earnhardt finished 35th. He's placed 30th or worse 10th times while scoring a top-10 finish only five times this year.

Contact Dustin Long at 373-7062 or dustin.long@news-record.com