NASCAR 'Spiregate' takes new turn as Gabehart slams 'spiteful' and 'baseless' lawsuit

Former Joe Gibbs Racing Director of Competition Chris Gabehart has responded fiercely to a lawsuit filed against him by his old team.

On Thursday, the NASCAR team filed a suit alleging that after demanding additional authority within the team, 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".

Gabehart, who was crew chief for Denny Hamlin in the JGR organization from 2019 to 2024 when he was unexpectedly promoted to Director of Competition, took to social media on Friday evening to release a statement strenuously denying any wrongdoing.

In a stinging 150-word rebuke, Gabehart called the move from his former team 'spiteful' and warned that a full legal response will be following in the days to come.

LAWSUIT DRAMA: Joe Gibbs Racing sues former Denny Hamlin crew chief

Chris Gabehart's statement in full

“Yesterday afternoon, Joe Gibbs Racing filed a lawsuit claiming – falsely – that I shared JGR confidential information with Spire Motorsports and/or other unnamed third parties. I feel compelled to speak out today and forcefully and emphatically deny these frivolous and retaliatory claims.

“I look forward to the opportunity to demonstrate to the Court that I have not shared JGR's confidential information with anyone. 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's systems. JGR refused that offer and filed this spiteful lawsuit instead.

“Stay tuned. We will have much more to say in the legal response we will be filing in the coming days.”

Why is Joe Gibbs Racing suing Chris Gabehart?

JGR 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".

JGR 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.

It is important to stress that Spire Motorsports has not been accused of any wrongdoing.

However, JGR says 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.

What are JGR's 'trade secrets'?

In the filing, JGR also outlined the types of confidential information and the trade secrets that they are talking about, including:

Technical information regarding racecar setups, the proprietary technology JGR uses to run simulations to determine the most advantageous racecar setups, and the results of those simulations.
JGR’s analytics and the processes and technologies for measuring racecar performance, pit crew performance, and driver performance.
JGR’s processes, procedures, and analysis for improving racecar performance, pit crew performance, and driver performance.
JGR’s processes, procedures, and technologies used in analyzing the performance of competitors’ racecars and drivers.
JGR’s processes and procedures for evaluating fuel consumption of JGR’s racecars and competitors’ racecars used before and during races.
Base compensation and bonus information for certain JGR employees supporting racecar performance, including engineers, crew chiefs, pit crew members, and mechanics.
The amount of payment JGR receives from its company sponsorships.

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