After a 35-minute recess Thursday afternoon, a federal judge said she needed more time before ruling on Joe Gibbs Racing’s request for a preliminary injunction against the team’s former competition director Chris Gabehart.
“I want to dig my teeth into this,” US District Judge Susan C. Rodriguez said. “It’s really important for the court to get this right. There is a livelihood and there are businesses on the line.”
Rodriguez said she would issue her ruling “as quickly as we can.”
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JGR has requested a preliminary injunction against Chris Gabehart and Spire Motorsports, who hired Gabehart as its chief motorsports officer, so the status quo can be maintained until the case goes to trial. A temporary restraining order that prevents Gabehart from performing duties at Spire Motorsports that overlap with the ones he had during his 17 years at JGR was extended to April 9.
During Thursday’s six-hour day, attorneys for both sides reiterated statements concerning:
Gabehart taking trade secrets, the “crown jewels” from JGR to give to Spire.Spire’s hiring of Gabehart to get the “crown jewels” so the team could take a “short cut” to being a successful race team.Spire saying it doesn’t have any of JGR’s information and it doesn’t want it.Spire and Gabehart’s attorneys contending JGR breached its contract with Gabehart first and therefore, the 18-month no-compete clause JGR wants against Gabehart cannot be enforced.
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Denny Hamlin with his then-crew chief Chris Gabehart in 2024.
“As we told the court today, it’s really easy to make an allegation, and frankly, it’s been disappointing in this case the way that Joe Gibbs Racing has made these extreme allegations without backing it up with any actual evidence,” Spire Motorsports attorney Lawrence Cameron said outside the federal courthouse.
“At the beginning of this case… JGR alleged that we had stolen their secret sauce. That they knew Spire encouraged the stealing of JGR’s secret sauce. What’s been discussed in court today and in the court filings is essentially a spreadsheet with some publicly available data. There’s just no evidence to support those allegations against Spire. Spire doesn’t want their data, didn’t ask for their data and doesn’t need their data.”
“It’s really important for the court to get this right. There is a livelihood and there are businesses on the line.”
During the attorneys’ presentations, Rodriguez often asked where the “hard evidence” was because the items they were presenting was circumstantial.
“I want to get down where the rubber meets the road, no pun intended,” Rodriguez said. “I want to get to the meat.”
In describing the items JRG claims Gabehart took, attorney Thomas Melsheimer noted it wasn’t motivational sayings such as, “It’s better to fly with the eagles than run around with the turkeys.”
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RCR driver Austin Dillon won in Richmond in 2025.
There had been speculation that JGR filed the lawsuit against Gabehart because they didn’t challenge a former employee who moved to Richard Childress Racing and took JGR’s Richmond setups with him. RCR has won the last two Richmond races with Austin Dillon. However, Melsheimer said outside the courthouse that wasn’t the reason the lawsuit was filed.
“I think they’re pursuing it because it’s the right thing to do,” Melsheimer said. “They’re protecting their hard-earned investments, their property, the things they developed. No other reason.
“This case is important because it’s our property, it’s our trade secrets, our confidential information. That’s all we’re trying to protect. We’re trying to hold Mr. Gabehart to his promise that he made to us, and we’re trying to protect our information.”
A North Carolina native, Deb Williams is an award-winning motorsports journalist who is in her fourth decade covering auto racing. In addition to covering the sport for United Press International, she has written motorsports articles for several newspapers, magazines and websites including espnW.com, USA Today, and The Charlotte Observer. Her awards include the American Motorsports Media Award of Excellence, two-time National Motorsports Press Association writer of the year, and two-time recipient of the Russ Catlin award. She also has won an award in the North Carolina Press Association’s sports feature category. During her career, Deb has been managing editor of GT Motorsports magazine and was with Winston Cup Scene and NASCAR Winston Cup Scene for 18 years, serving as the publication’s editor for 10 years. In 2024 she was inducted into the NMPA Hall of Fame.