Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR), one of the most successful organizations in the history of the NASCAR Cup Series, has filed a major lawsuit against its former Competition Director, Chris Gabehart, after what the organization alleges was a “brazen scheme to steal JGR’s most sensitive information and use it for the benefit of a direct competitor in NASCAR — Spire Motorsports.”
Gabehart, a native of Louisville, Kentucky, had been with Joe Gibbs Racing in some capacity for nearly 15 years, first joining the organization in 2012 as an engineer for Kyle Busch in the NASCAR Cup Series. The 44-year-old served as a crew chief for the team from 2016 to 2024, including several years working with Denny Hamlin in the NASCAR Cup Series.
Beginning in 2025, Gabehart was promoted to the role of Competition Director.
The major complaint in the lawsuit filed against Gabehart comes as a result of the former employee attempting to steal sensitive information from the championship-winning organization and bring it to Spire Motorsports.
On November 10, Joe Gibbs Racing provided Gabehart with the terms of a proposed separation agreement, in which he would be permitted to work for another NASCAR Cup Series team, provided he agreed not to solicit key employees and contractors from Joe Gibbs Racing.
At that time, Gabehart had disclosed to JGR that he was unsure of his future employment. However, during negotiations, Gabehart and his attorneys allegedly made numerous edits to the agreement allowing him to solicit employees.
In the days following his departure from Joe Gibbs Racing, the organization learned that Gabehart had been personally meeting with Jeff Dickerson, owner of NASCAR Cup Series team Spire Motorsports, leaving suspicions for the team and causing them to do a forensic investigation on his laptop.
That’s where things got difficult…
In its investigation, Joe Gibbs Racing learned several troubling things about what Gabehart had been doing in the months leading up to his impending departure from the organization, including syncing his personal Google Drive to his JGR Laptop, conducting multiple Google searches about Spire Motorsports, and creating folders titled “Spire” and “Past Setups.”
The November 7 photos included:
- Comprehensive post-race audit and analyses of team and driver performance for the entire 2025 NASCAR season;
- Complete team payroll details, including job titles, contract length, annual compensation, incentive compensation, and compensation plans for prior years;
- An employee compensation calculator used to project and plan pay for key JGR positions.
- Driver pay for the 2025 and 2026 seasons.
- Revenues from sponsors, partners, and other business arrangements for the 2024, 2025, and 2026 NASCAR season;
- JGR’s pit crew analytics for the 2025 NASCAR season; and
- Detailed analytics of racecar tires used to assess impact on race results.
In those folders, it was found that Gabehart had possession of more than a dozen photos of the screen of his JGR Laptop (taken on November 7), which contained images of files that contained Confidential Information and Trade Secrets.
While Gabehart denied these accusations, the forensic review showed otherwise.
The role at Gabehart would have at Spire Motorsports was undersold to Joe Gibbs Racing, as the team believed it wouldn’t overlap with his duties as Competition Director. However, the team would later find out that Gabehart was set to take the role of Chief Motorsports Officer.
Additionally, Joe Gibbs Racing says that Gabehart began soliciting employees to leave the organization and join Spire Motorsports — citing one employee in particular who left JGR on January 3, 2026, and began working for Spire in a similar role after departing the team, once the team offered him a higher salary than he earned at JGR.
Thus, Joe Gibbs Racing is seeking relief for alleged misappropriation of trade secrets by violation of the Federal Defend Trade Secrets Act, as well as the North Carolina Trade Secrets Protection Act, and the North Carolina Unfair and Deceptive Trade Practices Act. That financial relief is expected to exceed 8-million dollars.
Additionally, the organization also issued a claim for Breach of Contract and another for Injunctive Relief, which asks the court to restrain Gabehart from using or disclosing JGR’s confidential information and trade secrets and for him to return any such information and data still within his possession.
