Joe Gibbs Racing amends lawsuit against former competition director, adds Spire

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Joe Gibbs Racing has amended a recent lawsuit the NASCAR team filed against a former key employee to include a competing NASCAR team, Spire Motorsports, alleging Spire accepted illegally obtained proprietary information from the former employee and the defendants’ actions were “immoral, unethical and unscrupulous.”

The amendment was filed Tuesday and includes JGR seeking a temporary restraining order, preliminary injunction and permanent injunctive relief against Chris Gabehart, who had served as JGR’s competition director during the 2025 NASCAR season and had been a longtime employee of the company owned by Super Bowl-winning head coach Joe Gibbs.

Last week, JGR sued Gabehart in U.S. District Court in the Western District of North Carolina. Its lawsuit states Gabehart “embarked on a brazen scheme to steal JGR’s most sensitive information and use it for the benefit of a direct competitor in NASCAR — Spire Motorsports.”

The initial filing did not include Spire nor did JGR seek to prohibit Gabehart from immediately working for the team. Now, JGR is asking for a permanent injunction directing Gabehart to “cease and desist working or performing any services for Spire similar to those he provided to JGR for the 18 months following February 9, 2026,” in addition to cease and desist using, sharing, copying or transferring any proprietary information rightfully belonging to JGR.

The amended filing comes just days after Spire made it public that Gabehart had joined the team as its chief motorsports officer. What the position entails is a point of contention from JGR, claiming Gabehart’s role at Spire is similar in nature to his role with them as competitor director. JGR first learned this news on Feb. 11, then sued Gabehart the next week.

Spire is named as a defendant because JGR alleges Spire is benefiting from Gabehart’s “misappropriation of trade secrets” and “the competitive information he has used and improperly retained will give Spire a competitive advantage in the marketplace.”

When reached by The Athletic, Spire Motorsports declined to comment.

In both JGR filings, the team goes into great detail about how Gabehart enacted a scheme to steal confidential trade secrets after Gibbs declined Gabehart’s request to have “carte blanche authority” at JGR over all aspects of competition matters.

JGR also alleges Gabehart did not disclose in due course that he had spoken to Spire co-owner Jeff Dickerson nor that he had been offered a job at Spire. JGR did not learn of these conversations until a forensic analysis was conducted on Gabehart’s company-issued laptop. It also discovered Gabehart had “repeatedly conducted Google searches and online research about Spire during October and November of 2025.”

Further results of the forensic analysis, JGR claims, revealed that Gabehart had created a folder labeled “Spire,” a subfolder labeled “past setups” and a multitude of documents, photographs and spreadsheets, all of which are proprietary information owned by JGR and include what JGR says is “sensitive financial data.”

All told, JGR alleges Gabehart caused more than $8 million in damages to the team.

Gabehart has not worked for JGR since Nov. 10, 2025, JGR stated in its claim. Included in Tuesday’s filing is a termination of employment letter sent to Gabehart on Feb. 9, 2026, and signed by Gibbs, stating Gabehart had “violated his contractual obligations, company policy, and state and federal law, in addition to being an act involving moral turpitude, fraud, willful misconduct, gross negligence, and/or dishonesty.”

Gabehart is highly regarded inside the NASCAR garage. He first joined JGR in 2012, beginning as an engineer before eventually being promoted to crew chief for one of JGR’s four teams in NASCAR’s premier Cup Series. In his six years working with JGR driver Denny Hamlin from 2019 to 2024, the duo won 22 races, including two Daytona 500s, and ranked second-best in wins and laps led. Gabehart was then elevated to competition director following the 2024 season.

In a statement Gabehart posted Friday on X, he denied any wrongdoing.

“I look forward to the opportunity to demonstrate to the court that I have not shared JGR confidential information with anyone,” Gabehart wrote. “In fact, I have already demonstrated that to JGR. A third-party forensic expert retained by JGR recently examined my laptop, cell phone and personal Google Drive and found no evidence to support the baseless allegations in JGR’s lawsuit. We even offered JGR the opportunity to do a similar review of Spire systems. JGR refused that offer and filed this spiteful lawsuit instead.”

Hamlin, who also co-owns the Cup team 23XI Racing, explained Monday on his “Actions Detrimental” podcast the degree to which teams will go in order to protect proprietary information due to the razor-thin margins between winning and losing.

“I’m sure Joe Gibbs Racing has spent tens, if not hundreds of millions of dollars over the last decades, coming up with what they think is the right answer every weekend, and they deserve to protect that,” Hamlin said. “And it’s awfully disappointing to see two people that you’ve cared for at odds right now. But, listen, if Joe Gibbs Racing is willing to go to court, I think they’re pretty serious, I’ll say that. Joe ain’t looking to fight anyone.”