Hanging over much of NASCAR's offseason was a nine-day trial that ended with the sanctioning body of stock car racingsettling with Michael Jordan's 23XI Racingand another team, Front Row Motorsports.
Now, the sport is seemingly headed back to court.
Joe Gibbs Racing filed a lawsuit in the Western District of North Carolina on Thursday against the team's former competition director, Chris Gabehart. Gibbs' team alleges that 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."
USA TODAY Sports obtained a copy of the lawsuit, where JGR seeks to recover damages of up to $8 million because Gabehart allegedly violated "his contractual obligations and wrongfully" used "JGR's confidential information and trade secrets."
JGR claims that Gabehart stole the team's trade secrets after his demands for additional authority with the organization were "rebuffed" and he became "dissatisfied" with his position at JGR.
The filing did not request an injunction preventing Gabehart from working for Spire, though it's unclear if he actually reached an employment agreement with the team. Gabehart is not listed on Spire's website in a leadership or crew chief position. Spire is also not named as a co-defendant in the lawsuit.
According to JGR's claims, Gabehart met with team owner Joe Gibbs on Nov. 6, 2025 and demanded authority that would give him "carte blanche" over all racing decisions. When Gibbs declined to give Gabehart that power, Gabehart informed Gibbs he preferred to leave JGR and the two parties began working towards what JGR believed was an "amicable" and "generous" separation agreement.
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However, JGR says it became "suspicious" of Gabehart's intentions when it learned he had already allegedly met with Jeff Dickerson, the owner of Spire. JGR says it then conducted a forensic investigation of Gabehart's JGR-owned laptop and found "shocking" results.
JGR claims that its forensic investigation revealed that Gabehart allegedly synced his personal Google Drive with his JGR laptop, repeatedly conducted online research about Spire while he was still employed by JGR, had a Google Drive folder titled "Spire," and captured "more than a dozen" photos the day after his meeting with Gibbs — Nov. 7 — that contained "images of JGR files containing Confidential Information and Trade Secrets."
Additionally, JGR alleges that the photos also contained "comprehensive post-race audit and analyses of team and driver performance" for the entire 2025 season, complete team payroll details and compensation plans, pit crew analytics for the 2024 NASCAR season, and "detailed analytics of racecar tires used to assess impact on race results."
JGR says it learned on Feb. 11 that Gabehart had taken the position as Spire's chief motorsports officer, a role in which he "would be responsible for all of Spire's racing strategy and operations," which JGR contends is similar to what he did for them as competition director. Previously, JGR claims, Gabehart told them in December that his position with Spire wouldn't be similar to the role he had with JGR.
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Considered to be one of the smartest minds around the NASCAR garage, the 44-year-old Gabehart began his career in NASCAR's Cup Series in 2012 as an engineer on Kyle Busch's car with JGR. He was then the crew chief for Erik Jones in the second-tier Xfinity Series, then became the crew chief for Denny Hamlin's No. 11 in 2019. With Gabehart leading his team, Hamlin won 22 races in a six-year stretch, including a pair of Daytona 500s. Hamlin also made the final championship four in three seasons.
The winner of three Super Bowls as the head coach of Washington, Joe Gibbs founded Joe Gibbs Racing in 1992. The team has won five Cup Series championships, most recently with Busch in 2019. Gibbs' grandson Ty — now a Cup Series driver — won the team's fourth Xfinity Series championship in 2022.
A member of both the Pro Football and NASCAR hall of fames, Gibbs now co-owns JGR with his daughter-in-law Heather. In addition to his grandson and Hamlin, the team also fields Cup Series cars driven by Christopher Bell and Chase Briscoe.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:NASCAR in court: Joe Gibbs Racing sues former competition director
