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Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) has significantly broadened its legal offensive against former competition director Chris Gabehart, amending its lawsuit to include Spire Motorsports as a defendant and seeking a court order to halt their alleged collaboration. The legal entanglement, which began last week with JGR suing Gabehart for breach of contract and theft of proprietary information, now accuses Spire of actively inducing Gabehart to violate his agreements and misuse confidential data.
The development comes as Spire Motorsports officially confirmed over the weekend at Atlanta Motor Speedway that it has hired Gabehart for the newly created role of Chief Motorsports Officer. Gabehart, a seasoned engineer who transitioned to crew chief and served as JGR’s competition director for a year, is now at the center of a high-stakes legal dispute within the NASCAR Cup Series.
Joe Gibbs Racing’s original lawsuit alleged a "brazen scheme" by Gabehart to abscond with sensitive competition trade secrets upon being denied a de facto promotion by team owner Joe Gibbs. The team claims Gabehart created a folder titled "Spire" on his work computer, synced its contents to his personal Google Drive, and took photos of crucial setup information on his personal phone, all with the intent of transferring this data to his new employer. The suit further contends that Gabehart accessed JGR’s internal systems even on days he met with Spire Motorsports co-owner Jeff Dickerson.
The amended filing, submitted to the Western District of North Carolina, details JGR’s accusations against Spire. According to the legal documents, “Spire knowingly, intentionally, unjustifiably, and in bad faith induced Gabehart to breach his contract with JGR by (1) soliciting and hiring him to work for Spire, and/or (2) requesting, encouraging, or otherwise inducing him to disclose or use Plaintiff’s trade secrets or confidential information.”
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JGR asserts that Spire’s alleged actions have resulted in direct and proximate damages, including “loss of competitive advantage, and loss of confidential information,” for which the team seeks compensation to be determined at trial.
As part of its expanded legal strategy, Joe Gibbs Racing is requesting a restraining order to prevent Gabehart from working at Spire Motorsports in any capacity similar to his previous role as competition director. Furthermore, JGR seeks to prohibit Gabehart from deploying any "trade secrets" acquired during his tenure with the team and is demanding the immediate return of all proprietary materials in his possession.
The urgency behind JGR’s legal maneuvers stems from the intensely competitive nature of the NextGen car era in NASCAR. The team argues that any leakage of their car setup data could be devastating, stating, “Because all teams now race the same car and obtain car components from the same suppliers, understanding only a small portion of the details of how a competitor sets up its cars would allow other teams to extrapolate on that information and recreate a successful car setup.” JGR emphasizes that in the current landscape, “car setup, analytics, and race strategy have become increasingly important as competitive differentiators in NASCAR since the introduction of the NextGen car in 2022. This information is highly guarded.” Consequently, the misuse or dissemination of this confidential information, JGR claims, “would result in impaired ability to compete, lost profits and business opportunities, and reputational harm, among other injuries.”
In their motion for injunctive relief and a restraining order, JGR highlighted that neither Spire nor Gabehart have consented to the requested relief, necessitating a court order. The filing states, “Counsel for JGR has conferred with counsel for Gabehart concerning the relief requested in the Motion, and counsel for Gabehart has indicated Gabehart does not consent to the relief requested in the Motion. Similarly, JGR has conferred with Spire concerning the relief requested in the Motion, and Spire does not consent to the relief requested in the Motion.” The court will now decide on the issuance of the restraining order and injunctive relief by Judge Matthew Orso.
Supporting JGR’s claims are written declarations from key personnel, including Wally Brown, JGR’s competition director who resumed his role after Gabehart’s departure, and chief financial officer Tim Carmichael. Additionally, Clark C. Walton, a forensic expert for Reliance Forensics and a licensed attorney retained by JGR, provided crucial testimony. Walton’s firm conducted an analysis of files from Gabehart’s JGR computer, revealing concerning search histories and synced activity.
Walton’s declaration details the observation of Google search history that included queries such as "how to delete google search history," "how to delete google drive history," and searches related to "syncing Google Drive to computer." This suggests a potential attempt to conceal digital footprints.
Further findings from Reliance Forensics indicated “synced activity on the JGR Computer related to a Google Drive account associated with Gabehart’s personal Gmail address.” The report noted a folder named "Spire" within this synced Google Drive, containing a subfolder titled "Past Setups." Reliance observed interactions with this "Spire" folder on multiple dates between November 12 and December 2, 2025, indicating repeated access and manipulation of data.
Walton also detailed alleged access to various JGR internal systems, including analytics platforms and cloud storage, between mid to late November. These access logs reportedly show activity from both an unknown account and an account associated with what appears to be Gabehart’s personal email address.
Joe Gibbs Racing has also responded to a statement attributed to Gabehart, in which he "emphatically denied" the allegations. JGR countered that Gabehart’s statement was “materially false and misleading.” The team cited the forensic expert’s findings as evidence that Gabehart had indeed taken JGR’s confidential information and trade secrets, including financial data that Gabehart had expressly denied possessing.
Moreover, JGR indicated that the forensic review “did not exclude the possibility of [JGR] files being sent via email from a web portal, being sent via text message then deleted the message, shared directly via Google Photos or any other fileshare site.” This suggests that the scope of data exfiltration might be broader than initially apparent and that Gabehart may have employed multiple methods to transfer proprietary information.
Chris Gabehart is expected to file a formal response to these allegations in the coming days. The legal proceedings are ongoing, with significant implications for the competitive landscape of the NASCAR Cup Series.
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