Joe Gibbs Racing Seeks Expedited Discovery Amid Allegations of Trade Secret Misappropriation by Former Employee and Spire Motorsports

CHARLOTTE, NC – Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) is pushing for immediate legal access to evidence, asserting that former competition director Chris Gabehart and Spire Motorsports are potentially leveraging proprietary JGR data against them in the ongoing 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season. The racing powerhouse filed a response Friday, outlining its case for expedited discovery to U.S. District Judge Susan C. Rodriguez in the Western District of North Carolina, ahead of a crucial hearing scheduled for Monday morning.

The core of JGR’s argument, detailed in their legal filings, centers on Gabehart’s actions following his departure from the team. JGR contends that Gabehart engaged in the clandestine review and deletion of confidential files after his employment had concluded and while he was in negotiations with a direct competitor, Spire Motorsports. This behavior, JGR argues, is not indicative of an innocent explanation but rather points to "wrongful intent."

"There is no innocent explanation for secretly accessing, reviewing, and selectively deleting an employer’s confidential files after your employment has ended and you are negotiating with a direct competitor," stated JGR in their filing. "Gabehart’s belief that he was acting in secret is itself powerful evidence of wrongful intent."

JGR’s legal team is seeking to determine if "proprietary competition data are being used against them right now." The urgency stems from the current competitive landscape of the NASCAR season. "The 2026 NASCAR season is well underway, and it is during the season that JGR suffers the greatest competitive harm from Defendants’ misappropriation," the filing emphasizes. "Race wins and points accumulated during the season determine series champions – losses in these categories cannot be remedied after the fact. Every race that Gabehart and Spire compete using JGR’s proprietary strategies and technical information inflicts irreparable harm on JGR, whether through direct competitive disadvantage or through JGR being forced to compete without knowing if its ‘secret sauce’ is being deployed against it."

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The legal battle stems from an alleged "technical blunder" where Gabehart reportedly failed to disable device syncing with his personal accounts before returning his company computer upon his departure from JGR. This is compounded by revelations that Gabehart took photographs of JGR data using his personal phone after indicating his intent to leave, an act his own attorneys have described as leaving him "embarrassed" and feeling "stupid." JGR, however, views these actions as evidence of malicious intent, potentially being actively used against them.

"This is the same modus operandi he employed when photographing his computer screen rather than taking screenshots – a method he used precisely because he believed it would evade detection," JGR’s filing asserts. "The inescapable inference is that Gabehart engaged in this conduct only because he thought no one would find out."

Further complicating the matter, JGR alleges that Gabehart interacted with an "Unknown Google Drive Folder," theorizing that proprietary data may have been stored there, and that they have not been granted access to this particular device. The filing states, "Perhaps tellingly, and nefariously, Gabehart chose not to let Mr. Walton (Clark, the examiner) examine the Unknown Microsoft OneDrive before litigation or disclose he accessed it while simultaneously interacting with JGR’s materials he saved in his Spire folder. Gabehart’s assertion that there is no risk of spoliation is unreliable and falls flat."

Specifically, Joe Gibbs Racing is requesting expedited discovery of all relevant devices and communications between Gabehart and Spire Motorsports co-owners Jeff Dickerson and Dan Towriss.

Earlier in the week, Spire Motorsports and Gabehart opposed expedited discovery. However, they indicated that if Judge Rodriguez were to grant JGR’s request, they would, in turn, seek expedited discovery from JGR to ascertain the precise timeline when JGR considered Gabehart’s employment agreement to have officially concluded. JGR’s legal counsel has deemed this counter-request improper, citing procedural rules and a lack of demonstrated exigency or retention risk from Spire’s side.

"Defendants offer no argument or evidence of exigency or retention risk," JGR’s filing stated. "Such requests violate Local Civil Rule 7.1(c)(2) which prohibits parties from including motions in responsive briefing. Notwithstanding that procedural inconformity, JGR agrees discovery should begin in earnest in the immediate future. All interested parties benefit if discovery occurs before the issues join – which will almost assuredly not occur until after the 2026 NASCAR season concludes."

Dispute Over Personnel "Trade" Agreement

Adding another layer to the legal dispute is a disagreement over an alleged personnel "trade" agreement between JGR and Spire. Toni Rogers, Chief People Officer for Joe Gibbs Racing, stated in a filing Friday night that she was unaware of any agreement with Spire that would permit the hiring of a contracted employee, such as veteran car chief Cheddar Smith, in exchange for early release.

Jeff Dickerson, a Spire co-owner, had previously claimed that Smith was released from his contract in April to join JGR as car chief for the No. 54 team. In exchange, Dickerson asserted, JGR would have the right to similarly hire a JGR employee before their contract expired, or pay Spire $100,000.

Rogers, however, provided an email as an exhibit that confirmed the $100,000 figure referenced by Dickerson. Crucially, this email did not indicate any provision allowing JGR to release a car chief or crew chief from their contract to join Spire.

The email in question, from Chris Gabehart to JGR’s Chief People Officer, Toni Rogers, discusses the Cheddar Smith situation. Rogers’ declaration states, "The only potential ‘trade’ of personnel between JGR and Spire that had been discussed was a potential trade of spotters – a JGR spotter and a Spire spotter. A Competition Director, such as Gabehart, is a much higher and more valuable position than a spotter. The understanding was that if the Spire spotter joined JGR, JGR would take over his existing salary and if it was greater than what JGR had been paying the JGR spotter, that differential would be offset against the $100,000.00. Ultimately, that trade never happened as the Spire spotter chose not to leave Spire. To my knowledge, JGR has never received an invoice for the referenced payment of $100,000.00."

Rogers further clarified, "The potential trade described in the foregoing paragraph is the only potential trade of personnel between JGR and Spire that I have ever heard of. I have certainly never been aware of any sort of open-ended agreement with Spire that would allow Spire to hire someone who was under contractual obligations to JGR. As JGR’s Chief People Officer, I would have been aware of any such agreement that came to fruition. Had any such deal been contemplated or offered, there would have been a formal written release similar to that executed between Cheddar and Spire. There has been no such release with respect to Gabehart."

JGR Seeks Preliminary Injunction Against Gabehart’s Role at Spire

A central point of contention to be addressed in court on Monday is JGR’s motion for a preliminary injunction. Joe Gibbs Racing is seeking to prevent Gabehart from working at Spire Motorsports in any capacity that mirrors his former role as competition director. Gabehart is currently listed as "Chief Motorsports Officer" at Spire, with responsibilities extending beyond the Cup Series to Super Late Models, Sprint Cars, and involvement with sister teams in IndyCar and Formula 1.

Gabehart’s attorneys have argued that his contract included only a one-week non-compete clause, a position echoed by Dickerson in his own declaration. However, JGR disputes this interpretation, asserting that the conditions for a reduced non-compete period were never met.

"Contrary to Gabehart’s argument, Gabehart’s noncompete period was never reduced to one week under Section 6, paragraph 2 of the Agreement (‘Section 6’) because he failed to satisfy multiple material conditions," JGR’s filing states. "Section 6 requires a three-step procedure: (1) notice of specific duties assigned by JGR that were inconsistent with Gabehart’s expectations; (2) 60 days for JGR to cure; and (3) 60-day notice of termination without cause. Gabehart fails the first step – he sought more responsibilities, not relief from duties JGR assigned."

JGR’s legal team further contends that Gabehart’s contract required these notices to be made "in good faith," a condition they allege was disregarded. They also reiterate their belief that Gabehart was already engaged in discussions about employment with Spire as early as October, citing a meeting with Spire co-owner Dan Towriss. Towriss has no recollection of this meeting, and Gabehart claims the account was mischaracterized by JGR employee Todd Berrier.

Joe Gibbs Racing maintains that Gabehart did not provide the required 60-day notice and instead informed team owner Joe Gibbs of the irreparable breakdown of their professional relationship in a personal meeting after the season concluded in early November.

The overarching concern for JGR remains the alleged simultaneous access and storage of proprietary information by Gabehart, which they believe is currently being used against them. JGR disputes the characterization that they stopped paying Gabehart, leading to his departure; instead, they state that salary payments were halted upon their discovery of his alleged conspiracy with Spire.

"Defendants claim that Gabehart was relieved of his noncompete because JGR stopped paying his salary after his last day of work. This contention is without merit," JGR’s filing argues. "The Agreement plainly states Gabehart’s ‘Base Salary’ was payment for ‘the services Employee provides the Company.’ Gabehart’s ‘prior material breach’ defense rests on the untenable premise that JGR was obligated to pay him a salary while he performed no services for JGR and instead actively worked to benefit its competitor, Spire. This common-sense proposition – that an employee is only paid for services provided – is echoed in state and federal law."

JGR asserts that they fulfilled their contractual obligations by paying Gabehart for all services rendered through November 10, 2025, as reflected in the November 21, 2025 payroll. They note that Gabehart has not claimed to have provided any services after that date, by which time he had returned his JGR computer and was reportedly engaged in "discussions towards a mutually agreeable separation framework." JGR contends that Gabehart used this subsequent period to negotiate employment with Spire and to "wrongly and continuously access the information he stole from JGR," activities that do not constitute services provided to JGR.

In essence, JGR argues they were not obligated to compensate Gabehart while he was allegedly misappropriating their data for a rival organization.

Gabehart’s defense includes the claim that JGR breached their contract by failing to pay year-end bonus monies. JGR counters that this bonus was due by January 2, 2026, by which time Gabehart’s alleged conduct had been discovered. A portion of this bonus, JGR notes, was utilized to cover the costs of forensic analysis of Gabehart’s devices, as well as an additional hotel room in Phoenix in January, both agreed upon by legal counsel for both parties.

"Payment of this bonus, while the parties were actively involved in negotiations regarding Gabehart’s admitted taking of JGR’s information and how the bonus would be amended to address part of the forensic payment, is not a material breach going to the heart of the Agreement," JGR’s filing states. "To the contrary, if any party was in breach of the Agreement by January 2, 2026, it was Gabehart through his misappropriation of JGR’s Confidential Information and Trade Secrets and his cessation of services on November 10, 2025."

Joe Gibbs Racing is requesting that the court prevent Gabehart from participating in Spire’s NASCAR Cup Series operations. They state that Gabehart is free to pursue opportunities in other motorsports disciplines, including Spire’s Super Late Model or Sprint Car teams, or their affiliated IndyCar and Formula 1 programs, but argue for an injunction to safeguard JGR from competitive damage within NASCAR.

"Gabehart’s actual misappropriation of JGR’s Confidential Information and Trade Secrets has been established. It is undisputed that he took photos of his computer screen with his cell phone and saved more than 200 JGR proprietary files in a folder named ‘Spire.’ This is sufficient to support a preliminary injunction as to Gabehart," JGR’s filing concludes. "There is likewise substantial evidence of an ongoing and future threat of misappropriation of JGR’s trade secrets by both Gabehart and Spire. ‘It is well-settled under North Carolina law, ‘[d]irect evidence […] is not necessary to establish a claim for misappropriation of trade secrets; rather, such a claim may be proven through circumstantial evidence.’ After returning his JGR laptop on November 10, 2025, Gabehart continued accessing and deleting JGR files through December – conduct only discoverable because of his ‘technical blunder’ in failing to disable cloud syncing before returning the computer. Like photographing his screen rather than taking screenshots, Gabehart clearly believed these actions would evade detection. The fact that he engaged in this conduct only because he thought it was undetectable is itself powerful evidence of wrongful intent, and of the ongoing threat of misappropriation. Further, the circumstantial evidence demonstrates more than a possibility of ongoing or future trade secret misappropriation as to Gabehart and Spire."

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