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In a significant legal development within the NASCAR landscape, former Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) competition director Chris Gabehart is actively challenging the latest legal actions initiated by his former employer. Through his legal counsel, Gabehart has filed objections to JGR’s recent expedited discovery motions, asserting that these requests are overly broad and lack sufficient factual basis. Simultaneously, Gabehart has indicated his commitment to recovering deleted text messages, a key point of contention in the ongoing dispute, with Spire co-owner Jeff Dickerson at the center of the latest legal wrangling.
The core of Gabehart’s defense lies in his assertion that JGR’s current legal strategy is an attempt to relitigate issues already addressed by the court and to expand the scope of discovery beyond what was previously authorized. His legal team argues that JGR has failed to present verifiable evidence of any improper disclosure or use of confidential JGR information by Gabehart. This stance is underscored by the fact that prior investigations, including a pre-litigation examination of Gabehart’s JGR-issued devices and an initial round of court-ordered expedited discovery, have yielded no concrete evidence to support JGR’s claims.
"JGR’s Motion should be denied," Gabehart’s legal filing states. "The Motion seeks to relitigate issues the Court has already addressed, expand expedited discovery well beyond the narrow scope the Court previously authorized, and needlessly pull third parties into the litigation without even trying to articulate a factual basis. JGR’s litigation strategy—file motion after motion, accuse first and ask questions later—cannot manufacture evidence of disclosure of confidential JGR information where none exists."
The filing further criticizes JGR’s approach, labeling it as "desperate" and highlighting the absence of any identified instances where Gabehart transmitted, disclosed, or used JGR confidential information. The limited documents JGR has managed to present are characterized as personal to Gabehart, including a high-level business plan and a basic scorecard form, which Gabehart’s team argues do not qualify as "Confidential Information" or trade secrets.
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The legal battle stems from JGR’s lawsuit seeking over $8 million in damages from Gabehart, alleging a "brazen scheme" to steal trade secrets for the benefit of Spire. JGR subsequently expanded its lawsuit to include Spire. Gabehart has consistently maintained his innocence, asserting that no proprietary data has been shared with Spire and accusing JGR of breaching its contract regarding severance obligations.
JGR’s position is that they ceased payments to Gabehart upon discovering he had stored proprietary data on personal devices and continued to access them while negotiating employment with Spire. The court, under Judge Susan C. Rodriguez, had previously granted limited expedited discovery. During this process, it was revealed that text messages between Gabehart and Jeff Dickerson had been deleted, with Dickerson himself utilizing an auto-delete function for the same messages.
Gabehart has expressed no objection to the recovery of these deleted text messages and is actively working to obtain them from his cellular provider. However, he strongly disagrees with the expansive scope of discovery requested by JGR. Joe Gibbs Racing is seeking all communications between Gabehart and Dickerson up to March 13, 2026. Gabehart’s legal team argues that the relevant deletion occurred on November 15, 2025, and that his text messages have already been preserved multiple times by forensic examiners for both parties.
"He has nothing to hide and would like nothing more than for JGR and the Court to see these texts," Gabehart’s legal team stated, emphasizing his willingness to cooperate with a reasonable recovery effort.
However, the objection to the scope is firm. Gabehart’s counsel points out that JGR’s requested timeframe extends well beyond the date of deletion and into a period where Gabehart was actively represented by counsel and engaged in joint defense communications. The legal team is concerned about the potential for inadvertent disclosure of privileged attorney-client communications and joint defense materials. They are requesting that any recovered documents be directed to Gabehart’s counsel first for privilege review and relevance determination before being produced to any other party.
"The deletion in question occurred on November 15, 2025," the filing explains. "Mr. Gabehart’s text messages have now been preserved multiple times—once in January 2026 by JGR’s forensic examiner and once in March 2026 by Mr. Gabehart’s forensic expert. JGR’s Request 3 date range is much too broad without justification."
The filing further argues, "Given the open-ended nature of the request, Mr. Gabehart should issue the subpoena and any documents produced should be directed to Mr. Gabehart’s counsel first for privilege review and a relevance determination before production to any other party. Mr. Gabehart has legitimate concerns about the protection of attorney-client privileged communications and joint defense materials. JGR’s requested timeframe extends through March 13, 2026—a period during which Mr. Gabehart was actively represented by counsel in this litigation and engaged in joint defense communications with co-defendants. Permitting JGR unfettered access to these records without appropriate privilege review would be fundamentally unfair and contrary to established discovery practice."
In parallel, JGR is also seeking continued expedited discovery from communication devices belonging to Jeff Dickerson, Spire’s co-owner. Gabehart’s legal team is objecting to this motion, citing JGR’s previous opposition to Gabehart’s requests for similar discovery from JGR executives regarding their contract status at the end of the previous season.
"When Mr. Gabehart requested reciprocal discovery—including forensic examination of devices belonging to JGR personnel—JGR opposed that request," Gabehart’s filing asserts. "JGR argued that third-party personal devices should be excluded from expedited discovery. Now that JGR wants to examine a third party’s devices, it readily abandons that position. The Court should not permit JGR to selectively invoke litigation positions when they are advantageous and discard them when they are not."
Should the court permit JGR’s third-party subpoenas, Gabehart’s legal team has requested reciprocal discovery. This would involve obtaining communications from the cell phones of key JGR personnel, including Heather Gibbs, Eric Schaeffer, Dave Alpern, and Toni Rogers. Gabehart’s team contends that these individuals played pivotal roles in the decision to pursue litigation and in the alleged "for cause" termination that JGR claims triggered Gabehart’s 18-month non-compete clause. Communications from these individuals are deemed directly relevant to Gabehart’s defenses and counterclaims.
Adding another layer to the ongoing legal dispute, JGR’s legal team has repeatedly attempted to subpoena text messages from other prominent figures in the NASCAR community, including Joe Custer of Haas Factory Team, Justin Marks and Todd Meredith of Trackhouse Racing, and Rick Ware and Tommy Baldwin of Rick Ware Racing. These subpoenas are intended to uncover communications with Spire or its agents concerning Spire’s alleged possession of JGR’s confidential information and trade secrets.
However, Judge Rodriguez has previously denied these motions, citing a lack of evidence presented by JGR. The judge indicated that she would not permit JGR to engage in a "fishing expedition" without any concrete basis for their requests. Gabehart’s legal team echoes this sentiment, arguing that JGR continues to rely on speculation regarding what Dickerson "may have" communicated and has yet to produce any credible evidence to support their claims against these third parties.
"JGR’s request is part of a continued harassment campaign designed to drag Mr. Gabehart, Mr. Dickerson, and anyone associated with Spire through the mud with no evidentiary basis," Gabehart’s filing argues. "The racing community is small and tight-knit. JGR knows that serving subpoenas (with no evidentiary basis) on leaders of competing teams will deliver a message throughout the industry. The Court should not become a surrogate for JGR’s turf war."
The legal proceedings continue to unfold, with Gabehart’s defense team actively pushing back against what they perceive as overreaching and unsubstantiated legal tactics by Joe Gibbs Racing, while simultaneously working to clear his name and recover critical communication data.
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