NASCAR News: Joe Gibbs Racing accuses former Denny Hamlin ally of violating restraining order

Joe Gibbs Racing has accused Spire Motorsports and former Denny Hamlin crew chief Chris Gabehart of ignoring a restraining order at Bristol Motor Speedway.

Judge Susan C. Rodriguez issued a temporary order as part of the team's ongoing suit against their former competition director, which bars him from acting in a role for Spire similar to his prior role at Joe Gibbs Racing.

Joe Gibbs Racing claims that pictures taken at Bristol during the weekend's action show Gabehart doing more than executive-level activities, contrary to Judge Rodriguez's order.

The team issued a pair of declarations by Ty Gibbs' social media manager, David Biro, and by competition director Wally Brown, in which Brown accused Gabehart of participating in competition director-level activities.

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Joe Gibbs Racing chief files against Gabehart

In the filing, Brown wrote (via National Today): “Executives who do not have input into competition typically are not actively engaged in Practice or Qualifying sessions. Sponsors typically do not attend Practice and Qualifying, particularly at this race.”

He then went on to give a breakdown of pictures taken of Gabehart at Bristol, writing: "In this photograph taken during Practice for the Cup Series, Gabehart appears to be wearing two radios with earpieces-in my experience the kind issued by NASCAR race teams to their competition personnel. Gabehart's use of these radios during this time strongly suggests that he is listening to the radios to obtain competition-related information."

Of another, he added: “In my experience, access to the workstation is typically limited to competition personnel with direct input into a Cup team's on-track performance. In the photograph, Gabehart, standing with his back to the camera and wearing a black shirt and jeans, is apparently monitoring data screens.

"This position in close proximity is consistent with someone providing input into competition decisions. His presence at this location during Practice, as well as his specific location within the workstation, suggests to me Gabehart was likely actively participating in Spire's competition operations for the NASCAR Cup race.”

And of a third, he said: "This photograph was taken at the end of Qualifying and shows Gabehart in close proximity to someone who appears to be Carson Hocevar, the driver of Spire's Number 77 Cup Series car. In the photograph, Gabehart appears to be standing and looking at a screen. Hocevar – the Spire driver – appears to be seated in the workstation wearing glasses.

"In my experience, direct communication between competition leadership and drivers at the end of Qualifying typically involves discussing the driver's performance during Qualifying, and the car's handling. This type of apparent interaction -- occurring immediately after Qualifying -- suggests to me Gabehart was likely actively participating in Spire's competition operations, providing the kind of input and feedback that a Competition Director provides to the team after Qualifying."

Brown concluded: “This evidence is also pertinent to the threat of ongoing misappropriation addressed in JGR’s Reply, ECF No. 46 at 9–13, as Gabehart’s active participation in Spire’s race-day competition operations creates circumstances in which JGR’s trade secrets may be disclosed or misused.

“Finally, the evidence is pertinent to JGR’s argument that Gabehart’s demonstrated lack of credibility necessitates monitoring his conduct to ensure compliance with the Court’s order.”

Why is Joe Gibbs Racing suing Chris Gabehart and Spire Motorsports?

Joe Gibbs Racing alleges that after demanding additional authority within the team during the offseason, which was rebuffed by Joe Gibbs, Gabehart "immediately 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".

As a result of that, Joe Gibbs Racing says that they have filed the lawsuit seeking "extensive damages and enjoin Defendant from violating his contractual obligations and wrongfully using JGR’s confidential information and trade secrets".

Joe Gibbs Racing says that after his demand for more authority was denied, Gabehart informed Joe Gibbs that he wanted to leave the team. Then, in the days that followed his departure, Gabehart had been meeting with Spire Motorsports owner Jeff Dickerson.

JGR said this meeting aroused their suspicions, and they decided to undertake a forensic investigation into Gabehart's company laptop, finding "shocking" results, uncovering what they call a "brazen theft of its confidential and trade secrets" when examining Gabehart's laptop. The filing alleges:

JGR Uncovers Defendant’s Brazen Theft of Its Confidential Information and Trade Secrets.
Defendant had synced his personal Google Drive with his JGR laptop.
Defendant had repeatedly conducted Google searches and online research about Spire during October and November of 2025.
The Google Drive contained a folder titled “Spire” and a subfolder titled “Past Setups.”
Defendant had possession of more than a dozen photos of the screen of his JGR laptop taken on November 7, 2025. These photos contained images of JGR files containing Confidential Information and Trade Secrets.

Ultimately, JGR is seeking relief to prevent any use or disclosure of its confidential information or trade secrets, as well as damages it believes exceed $8 million.

Initially, Spire Motorsports were not accused of any wrongdoing, but they were later added to the lawsuit when they hired Gabehart as their Chief Motorsports Officer. Joe Gibbs Racing and their attorney has since accused Spire of cheating.