Chris Gabehart said in a Wednesday legal filing that the lawsuit against him by former employer Joe Gibbs Racing isn’t about protecting trade secrets but instead ‘punishing a former employee for daring to leave.’
And while seemingly less consequential on the merits of the lawsuit itself, Gabehart also revealed his reasons for leaving Joe Gibbs Racing in the first place by citing a culture of dysfunction with driver Ty Gibbs at the center of the tension. Ty Gibbs is the grandson of team owner Joe Gibbs and fourth-year driver of the No. 54 Toyota.
Joe Gibbs Racing sued Gabehart last week, seeking damages of over $8 million dollars, for allegedly embarking on a ‘brazen scheme to steal JGR’s most sensitive data’ and take it with him to Spire Motorsports, which hired him last week as Chief Motorsports Officer. JGR amended the suit to include Spire as a defendant on Tuesday.
Prior to joining Spire, Gabehart served as competition director for Joe Gibbs Racing in 2025 in his 13th season with the organization. Most notably, Gabehart won 22 races as crew chief for Denny Hamlin, with five championship finishes of sixth or better across the 2019 and 2024 seasons. They earned two victories in the Daytona 500.
Joe Gibbs Racing also filed a restraining order and motion for injunctive relief to prevent Gabehart from working at Spire. An initial hearing has been scheduled at the Western District of North Carolina courtroom on Friday afternoon.
As for why Gabehart left, the below text in italics have been taken directly from the filing, suggesting a culture of dysfunction that ultimately contributed to him feeling as though he was being misled and undermined.
“I notified JGR that the job was not, at all, as advertised. I was promised a COO-type role overseeing all competitive operations with autonomy to lead. Instead, I found myself constantly intertwined with Coach (Joe) Gibbs, senior JGR executives, and family members when making even routine competition decisions—a dysfunctional organizational structure that I could not continue in.”
Gabehart said Coach Gibbs pressured him to take over as crew chief for the 23-year-old driver. He ultimately spend some time on the pit box over the course of the summer and earned an additional $25,000 per race each time he did so.
“It was my view that the No. 54 car should be managed and held accountable in the same manner as the organization’s other cars. Instead, the No. 54 car was managed directly by Coach Gibbs and everyone in the organization knew it.
“Beginning early in the 2025 season, Coach Gibbs repeatedly pressured me to take over as crew chief of the No. 54 car. I consistently declined, explaining that as Competition Director, I did not believe this was the right move, that it would undermine the long-term development of the team, and that I did not want to be crew chief of the No. 54 or any other car. Despite my objections, Coach Gibbs and ownership continued pressing, and I eventually conceded to the pressure by first helping the No. 54 team more behind the scenes and then, beginning on June 28, 2025, by publicly serving as the crew chief and calling the races on Sundays for nine consecutive races before returning those duties to the original crew chief, Tyler Allen, against the strong desires of ownership, when I made it clear that I did not want to serve as a crew chief for the long term.”
Gabehart said decisions relating to the No. 54 car were made without his ‘counsel or input’ and that the driver, Ty Gibbs was not held to the same competition meeting attendance standards as teammates Christopher Bell, Chase Briscoe and Denny Hamlin.
On November 6, Gaebhart was granted a meeting with Coach Gibbs to discuss the schism and that they agreed that a parting of ways would be most amendable. Gabehart says JGR stopped paying him in November while he negotiated departure terms with the organization.
JGR has since sued Gabehart, claiming over $8 million dollars in damages and the potential for further harm if the former competition director continues to work in a organizational leadership capacity at Spire Motorsports. Joe Gibbs Racing sued Gabehart and Spire after conducting a forensic audit that led the organization to believe the former employee broke nondisclosure agreements and state trade protection law.
JGR has also motioned Gabehart to hand over any remaining proprietary information that is being utilized at Spire.
For his part, Gabehart wrote that he paid for his own forensic audit and it showed ‘no evidence I transmitted, distributed, used or otherwise shared any JGR confidential information. No text messages. No email attachments. No dissemination whatsoever.’ Gabehart shared a letter (below) that shows a willingness from Spire Motorsports to also subject itself to an audit to show that it had not received nor used JGR proprietary data.
Gabehart says the above letter went ignored and Joe Gibbs Racing instead brought forth a legal complaint. The lawsuit claims Gabehart made a folder on his JGR account titled ‘Spire’ and synced it with his personal accounts. The 44-year-old engineer did not deny creating and accessing the folder but claims he did so purely to evaluate the decision to leave JGR for Spire. Gabehart says he has deleted all proprietary information from his devices and did not share any of them with Spire.
“This lawsuit is not about protecting trade secrets—it is about punishing a former employee for daring to leave.
“Granting injunctive relief and preventing me from working in NASCAR, where I have dedicated my entire career, would deprive me of my livelihood and ability to work in my chosen profession. Granting the injunctive relief requested by JGR would effectively bar me from pursuing my livelihood in the only industry in which I have developed expertise over the course of my professional career.”
The complete legal response to the lawsuit by Chris Gabehart can be found below.
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