LONG POND, Pa. -- Kyle Busch crew chief Adam Stevens feels bad that his confrontation with the Furniture Row Racing pit crew happened, but he felt he was provoked by his fellow Joe Gibbs Racing employees.

Stevens said Saturday that he had no intention of stopping at the Furniture Row Racing pit box as he walked by after the accident between Martin Truex Jr. and Busch as they battled for the lead Sunday with 50 laps remaining at Indianapolis.

Furniture Row gets its pit crew from JGR as part of their alliance, and Truex tire changer Lee Cunningham clapped at Stevens and said, "Tell Kyle way to go."

It was on from there.

"I waited four or five minutes before I even left the box and was 100 percent focused on getting back to our trailer -- I had no intention of stopping anywhere along the way," Stevens said. "I was approached with some inappropriate comments and communication from a Joe Gibbs Racing employee, and it rubbed me the wrong way.

"I took an opportunity to tell him what I thought about it."

After Stevens entered the stall and had a heated conversation with Cunningham, Furniture Row's Chris Taylor came over to break them apart, giving Stevens a shove in the process.

JGR suspended Cunningham and Taylor for three races.

There is no rule against a crew chief going into another team's box, but it certainly is against the code and obviously nothing happens if Stevens keeps walking.

"I understand that's a thing, but I just go back to being provoked by a Joe Gibbs Racing employee," Stevens said. "I wasn't thinking of going into their box at all. That thought never entered my mind until I was provoked."

The perception of the suspensions is how convenient it is for JGR, which has potentially slowed down the pit stops of one of its biggest competitors in Furniture Row by eliminating its two best tire changers for three races.

Isn't that a weird situation?

"[Suspending them] was a company decision -- I wasn't necessarily privy to any of those in-depth conversations," Stevens said. "It would feel equally weird letting a Joe Gibbs Racing employee address another one in that fashion, which was completely inappropriate.

"It doesn't feel weird providing them with a pit crew that's arguably the best on pit road. I guess there is lots of ways to look at that."

Stevens certainly used some choice language of his own in response. He doesn't know Cunningham, but Taylor did pit cars with Stevens that won races in the Xfinity Series.

"The key to that is how the conversation was initiated," Stevens said when asked if he addressed the Furniture Row crew guys inappropriately. "It would be no more appropriate or inappropriate if it happened in our own shop."

Joe Gibbs said Sunday he didn't consider suspending Stevens.

"No -- because of everything that happened," said Gibbs, who said that there was more than what was seen on video but didn't elaborate. "I think we took everything into consideration and did what we thought was best. That's one of the best crews on pit road."

Gibbs didn't seem worried about the perception of JGR disciplining those working on the Truex car.

"People are always going to say all kinds of things," he said. "I don't think you can worry about that. Obviously they will be back."

Stevens added that the video of his hauler driver talking to a Furniture Row jackman after the accident -- prior to his confrontation with the crewmen -- in the pits actually was the two talking about a stump-grinding project. It had nothing to do with the accident.