Gabehart Refutes JGR Claims Of Sharing Confidential Info With Spire

Chris Gabehart took to social media on Friday to respond to the claims made by Joe Gibbs Racing in a recently filed lawsuit, which allege that the former competition director stole and shared confidential information from the team with Spire Motorsports.

Jul 24, 2022; Chris Gabehart in victory lane after winning the M&M's Fan Appreciation 400 at Pocono Raceway. | Matthew OHaren-Imagn Images

In a Friday evening social media post, Chris Gabehart, the former competition director for Joe Gibbs Racing, responded to a lawsuit that the race team filed in U.S. District Court against him. JGR claims that Gabehart stole confidential information from the team and shared it with Spire Motorsports, a claim that Gabehart refuted in his statement on social media.

"Yesterday afternoon, Joe Gibbs Racing filed a lawsuit claiming -- falsley -- that I shared JGR confidential information with Spire Motorsports and/or other unnamed third parties," Gabehart said in the statement. "I feel compettled to speak out today and forcefully and emphatically deny these frivolous and retaliatory claims."

Gabehart, who served as a crew chief for Joe Gibbs Racing in the NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series and NASCAR Cup Series from 2016 to 2024, before taking over the role of competition director going into the 2025 season.

At the conclusion of the 2025 season, Gabehart and Joe Gibbs Racing had a disagreement as Gabehart was seeking complete control over the competition department at JGR. As the two sides couldn't agree, Gabehart began seeking a new team during the negotiations with Joe Gibbs Racing, and it was at this point that JGR alleges the improper theft of proprietary team information occurred and was then shared with Spire Motorsports.

Gabehart says he looks forward to making his case in court.

"I look forward to the opportunity to demonstrate to the Court that I have not shared JGR's confidential information with anyone," Gabehart stated. "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."

Gabehart continued, "Stay tuned. We will have much more to say in the legal response we will be filing in the coming days."

As of now, it looks like both sides of this pending lawsuit have very different views of what has transpired, and it is unclear if either is willing to backdown from the fight.