For NASCAR fans interested in some of the inner workings of the racing teams and many of the sport’s moving parts, a spate of recent lawsuits has been a treasure trove of interesting information. The latest? A Joe Gibbs Racing lawsuit against former competition director Chris Gabehart.
That suit is just heating up. On Tuesday, filings revealed that JGR is seeking a temporary restraining order and a preliminary injunction against Gabehart.
They also revealed an alleged incident in 2024 when a JGR employee leaked confidential trade secrets to a rival team. The Associated Press’ Jenna Fryer uncovered the tidbit and shared it on Twitter on Tuesday evening.
“The application for TRO also acknowledges for the first time that JGR in 2024 learned of another employee taking confidential information to a rival team,” Fryer wrote. “The 2024 incident is widely known about inside the industry but JGR has always refused to discuss or shed light on.”
Fryer included a screenshot of the portion of the JGR-Chris Gabehart filing that refers to the incident in question. It read:
“Gabehart worked in such a senior position at JGR, and was trusted in such a degree, that he was involved in JGR’s response to the employee’s misappropriation of Confidential Information and Trade Secrets in 2024. In connection with the 2024 action, JGR utilized a third party computer forensic provider. Through that process, Gabehart became familiar with the forensic review process, the types of information that it can uncover, and the types of information that can be more easily concealed.”
That is certainly noteworthy in light of JGR’s allegations about Gabehart. JGR has accused Gabehart of scheming to steal the organization’s most sensitive information to use for the benefit of a direct competitor — Spire Motorsports.
JGR said that it learned through an internal investigation that Chris Gabehart synced his personal Google Drive with his JGR laptop, per Toby Christie of Sports Illustrated. The team also states that Gabehart repeatedly conducted Google searches and online research about Spire from October to November of last year.
For his part, Gabehart has pushed back on the allegations. He released a statement after the lawsuit surfaced.
“Joe Gibbs Racing filed a lawsuit claiming — falsely — that I shared JGR confidential information with Spire Motorsports and/or other unnamed third parties,” Gabehart said in a statement. “I forcefully and emphatically deny these frivolous and retaliatory claims.”
He added that a third-party forensic review of his devices, including his laptop, phone and personal cloud storage, found no evidence of wrongdoing. Chris Gabehart also said his legal team plans a formal response in court.
On3’s Brian Jones and Nick Schultz also contributed to this report.