{"id":487012,"date":"2026-02-20T06:14:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-20T06:14:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/487012\/"},"modified":"2026-02-20T06:14:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-20T06:14:08","slug":"why-is-joe-gibbs-racing-nascar-team-suing-chris-gabehart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/487012\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Is Joe Gibbs Racing NASCAR Team Suing Chris Gabehart?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\"Chris<\/p>\n

\u00a9 Greg Atkins\/Imagn<\/p>\n

Did former\u00a0Joe Gibbs Racing\u00a0competition director Chris Gabehart steal info\u00a0and attempt to funnel it to competitor Spire Motorsports? That\u2019s what the NASCAR powerhouse alleged in a new lawsuit filed in North Carolina on Thursday.<\/p>\n

Jordan Bianchi of The Athletic<\/a> reports that Gabehart, 44, is accused of having \u201cembarked on a brazen scheme to steal JGR\u2019s most sensitive information and use it for the benefit of a direct competitor in NASCAR \u2014 Spire Motorsports.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gabehart began his career with Joe Gibbs Racing as an engineer in 2012 and worked his way all the way to serve as the team\u2019s competition director in 2025.<\/p>\n

However, the two sides ominously parted ways following the season without any public explanation. He then took a role as Spire\u2019s chief motorsports officer, a position that Joe Gibbs Racing claims is similar to his previous role as its competition director.<\/p>\n

The alleged evidence against Gabehart is damning.<\/p>\n

Joe Gibbs Racing Claims To Have Significant Evidence Against Chris Gabehart<\/p>\n

According to the lawsuit<\/a>, which was filed in\u00a0the Western District of North Carolina, where Joe Gibbs Racing is located, Gabehart \u201cbecame dissatisfied with his position as competition director at JGR\u201d and sought further control of the team\u2019s overall operations.<\/p>\n

Joe Gibbs, the team\u2019s owner and Pro Football Hall of Fame head coach, rejected Gabehart\u2019s asks, at which point Gabehart sought permission to leave the team.<\/p>\n

The two sides eventually came to an agreed-upon split. Gabehart stopped working for the team on Nov. 10, 2025, and the two sides began working on an \u201camicable separation,\u201d with Nov. 10, 2025, at which point the team confiscated Gabehart\u2019s computer and conducted a forensic analysis \u2014 which is standard protocol.<\/p>\n

The team alleges that, while conducting its analysis, it discovered that Gabehart accessed proprietary information, some of which was beyond the scope of his position, and used his personal cell phone \u201cto take photos of his laptop screen in order to conceal that he was accessing and taking JGR\u2019s confidential information and trade secrets.\u201d<\/p>\n

The lawsuit claims that Gabehart accessed this information on Nov. 7. That\u2019s one day after Gibbs rejected Gabehart\u2019s ask for more control.<\/p>\n

Perhaps most damning, Gabehart\u2019s personal Google Drive allegedly had a folder titled \u201cSpire\u201d and a subfolder titled \u201cPast Setups.\u201d<\/p>\n

Additionally, the suit claims that Gabehart took photos of \u201ccomplete team payroll details, including job titles, contract length, annual compensation, incentive compensation, and compensation plans for prior years; driver pay for the 2025 and 2026 NASCAR seasons; Revenues from sponsors, partners, and other business arrangements for the 2024, 2025, and 2026 NASCAR seasons.\u201d<\/p>\n

What Does JGR Want From This Lawsuit<\/p>\n

On Dec. 17, Gabehart informed his former team of Spire\u2019s offer. However, he claimed the role would be different from that of a competition director. On Feb. 11, 2026, Gibbs learned that he had taken the position.<\/p>\n

Spire is not named as a defendant in the lawsuit. Additionally, Joe Gibbs Racing is not requesting an injunction preventing Gabehart from working for Spire.<\/p>\n

However, it is seeking an amount north of $8,000,000 for damages and attorneys\u2019 fees.<\/p>\n

Neither Spire nor Gabehart has offered a statement on sthe uit.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u00a9 Greg Atkins\/Imagn Did former\u00a0Joe Gibbs Racing\u00a0competition director Chris Gabehart steal info\u00a0and attempt to funnel it to competitor…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":487013,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[446],"tags":[2571,49,48,12101,634,582,82],"class_list":["post-487012","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nascar","tag-auto-racing","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-joe-gibbs-racing","tag-nascar","tag-racing","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/487012","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=487012"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/487012\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/487013"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=487012"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=487012"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=487012"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}