Joe Gibbs Racing Alleges Data Misappropriation, Seeks Expedited Discovery Against Spire Motorsports and Former Employee

CHARLOTTE, NC – Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) has filed a vigorous response in the Western District of North Carolina, urging Judge Susan C. Rodriguez to grant expedited discovery into the dealings between Spire Motorsports and former JGR Competition Director, Chris Gabehart. The racing powerhouse alleges that Gabehart, following his departure from JGR, engaged in the unauthorized access, review, and selective deletion of confidential company files, potentially jeopardizing JGR’s competitive standing in the ongoing 2026 NASCAR season.

In a filing submitted on Friday, JGR’s legal team presented arguments asserting that Gabehart’s actions, particularly his alleged clandestine review and deletion of employer data after his employment concluded and while negotiating with a direct competitor, demonstrate clear wrongful intent. The response, made in anticipation of a hearing on Monday morning in Charlotte, emphasizes the immediate and irreparable harm JGR claims to be suffering.

"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 states. "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."

JGR’s claims are bolstered by a forensic analysis detailing what they term a "technical blunder" by Gabehart. The analysis suggests that Gabehart failed to disable device syncing with his personal accounts before returning his company computer upon his departure. This is in addition to revelations that Gabehart photographed JGR data using his phone after indicating his intent to leave, an act his attorneys have acknowledged he feels "embarrassed" and "stupid" about. JGR, however, maintains these actions were driven by malicious intent, potentially being actively weaponized against them.

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"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," the filing asserts. "The inescapable inference is that Gabehart engaged in this conduct only because he thought no one would find out. 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. Gabehart’s belief that he was acting in secret is itself powerful evidence of wrongful intent."

JGR has also highlighted Gabehart’s interaction with an "Unknown Google Drive Folder," theorizing that proprietary data could have been stored there and that they have not been granted access to this device. "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."

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

In their own filings earlier in the week, Spire and Gabehart opposed expedited discovery. However, they indicated that if Judge Rodriguez were to permit it, they would then seek expedited discovery from the plaintiffs to determine the precise moment Joe Gibbs Racing considered their employment agreement with Gabehart to have been nominally concluded. JGR’s attorneys deemed this counter-proposal improper, stating, "Defendants offer no argument or evidence of exigency or retention risk. 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."

Disputed "Trade" Agreement and Personnel Movements

Adding another layer to the legal dispute, Toni Rogers, Chief People Officer of Joe Gibbs Racing, stated in a Friday night filing that she was unaware of any agreement with Spire for an employee trade in exchange for the ability to hire veteran car chief Cheddar Smith, who was reportedly under contract with Spire at the time.

Jeff Dickerson had previously claimed that he released Smith from his contract in April to join JGR as car chief for the No. 54 car. This release, according to Dickerson, was in exchange for 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 but offered no indication that JGR had the option to release a car chief or crew chief from their contract to join Spire.

The email in question, shared by Rogers, details a potential trade involving spotters, which ultimately did not materialize. Rogers clarified, "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 elaborated, "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 Injunction Against Gabehart’s NASCAR Operations at Spire

A central issue to be addressed in court on Monday is Joe Gibbs Racing’s motion for a preliminary injunction. JGR is seeking to prevent Gabehart from participating in any capacity within Spire Motorsports’ NASCAR operations that mirrors his former role as competition director. Gabehart is currently employed by Spire as "Chief Motorsports Officer," with responsibilities that reportedly extend beyond the Cup Series to include Super Late Models, Sprint Cars, and involvement with sister teams in IndyCar and Formula 1.

Gabehart maintains that his employment contract with JGR included only a one-week non-compete clause, a position echoed by Jeff Dickerson in his own declarations. However, JGR disputes this interpretation. "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 contends. "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 argues that Gabehart’s contract required these notices to be made "in good faith," a condition they allege was not met. Furthermore, JGR reiterates its assertion that Gabehart was engaged in employment discussions with Spire as early as October, citing a meeting with Spire co-owner Dan Towriss. Towriss has stated he does not recall such a meeting, and Gabehart claims the interaction was mischaracterized by JGR employee Todd Berrier.

Joe Gibbs Racing asserts that Gabehart did not provide the required 60-day notice and instead informed team owner Joe Gibbs that the professional relationship was irreparable in a personal meeting after the season concluded in early November. Simultaneously, JGR maintains Gabehart was accessing and storing proprietary information that could be currently used against them.

JGR disputes Spire’s characterization that they stopped paying Gabehart, leading to his departure. Instead, JGR claims they ceased payments upon discovering 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," the filing reads. "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."

The filing continues, "JGR complied with the Agreement by making payment for all time worked by Gabehart through November 10, 2025 on the regularly scheduled November 21, 2025 payroll. Gabehart does not argue that he provided any services to JGR after November 10, 2025. By then, Gabehart had returned his JGR computer and had engaged in ‘discussions towards a mutually agreeable separation framework.’ Instead, Gabehart has admitted to using the time after November 10, 2025, to negotiate employment with Spire. He further used the time to wrongly and continuously access the information he stole from JGR. These are not services provided to JGR."

In essence, Joe Gibbs Racing asserts they would not continue to compensate Gabehart while he was allegedly stealing their data for a rival organization. Gabehart’s defense includes the claim that JGR breached their contract by not paying year-end bonus monies. JGR counters that these bonuses were due by January 2nd, by which time Gabehart’s alleged misconduct had been discovered. A portion of these bonus monies was used, by agreement of both legal teams, to cover the forensic analysis of Gabehart’s devices and an additional hotel room in Phoenix in January.

From the JGR filing: "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. 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’s objective remains clear: to have Gabehart separated from Spire’s NASCAR Cup Series operations. "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."

The filing further states, "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."

JGR has indicated that Gabehart is free to pursue opportunities in other motorsports disciplines, including Spire’s Super Late Model or Sprint Car teams, or its affiliated IndyCar and Formula 1 programs. However, they seek an injunction specifically to prevent him from engaging in activities that could harm JGR within the NASCAR Cup Series.

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