Clint Bowyer says the spat between he and his No. 14 team, particularly with crew chief Mike Bugarewicz, feels like it was a month ago. But it was less than a week ago when he and Bugarewicz bickered back and forth over the radio at Talladega Superspeedway before Bowyer climbed from his car, the two exchanged more words and Bowyer stormed away.

Friday, the Kansas native said it was nothing more than his frustrations getting the best of him after being involved in an accident.

"It's just a frustrating race. It's extremely nerve-wracking," Bowyer said. "To be dead honest with you, when I'm at home there are only two tracks that I'm scared of. There's only two tracks that in the back of my mind where I think I could lose my life. Those are the only two [Daytona and Talladega].

"When things get out of control, you've got to remember that. We're still out there risking our lives. There's a lot at stake. [But] That's behind us."

He later added, "When you get down to the end of those things there's a point you can feel it as a fan, you can feel it in the car. There's a point in those races where you have to be in position, you have to be in the hunt. The one common denominator there is that I knew and felt strongly going into that race that a Ford was going to win.

"In the back of my mind, there's a handful of tracks that we can competitively win at and beat these Toyotas right now and that was one of them. Just a lot of things going on and confusion was definitely one of them, that's for damn sure."

Bowyer finished 35th and dropped to 18th in points.

Nearing the conclusion of his first season with Stewart-Haas Racing, Bowyer is still looking to break a winless streak dating back to the fall of 2012. There is an admitted hunger in Bowyer to get back in victory lane and he said that has been one of the frustrating things about the season as a whole. The needed consistency to contend at the front of the field each weekend hasn't been there. A solid run is usually followed by taking a step back.

When prodded about whether he would like a crew chief change next season to help turn things around, Bowyer didn't commit to a yes or no answer.

"I don't know. It's not time ... to start thinking about that," he said. "At the end of the day, it's about depth in our organization and building and organization. ... Who knows? There could be a lot of different things that happen in the off season for Stewart-Haas. You don't know that. I don't know that or anybody else. Time will tell and paint a lot clearer picture."