Joe Gibbs Racing Files Lawsuit Against Former Competition Director

Chris Gabehart is locked in a legal dispute with Joe Gibbs Racing, his former race team. JGR alleges that Gabehart stole proprietary information from the team, including car setups, payroll information, and more, and intended to bring that information with him to Spire Motorsports.

Chris Gabehart, who spent many years as a crew chief and later as a competition director for Joe Gibbs Racing, has been issued a lawsuit from the team, which claims he stole their proprietary data to take with him to Spire Motorsports. | Matthew O'Haren-Imagn Images

Joe Gibbs Racing has filed a lawsuit against its former competition director, Chris Gabehart, according to court records, which became publicly available on Thursday.

In the complaint letter, Joe Gibbs Racing says that through an investigation, it uncovered brazen theft of its confidential information and trade secrets allegedly perpetrated by Gabehart in an effort to bring the information to Spire Motorsports, a team that competes against the organization.

According to the complaint filed by JGR says it learned through an internal investigation that Gabehart, who left the team at the conclusion of the 2025 season, synced his personal Google Drive with his JGR laptop.

The team says Gabehart also repeatedly conducted Google searches and online research about Spire during October and November of 2025. JGR's investigation also uncovered that Gabehart's personal Google Drive contained a folder titled "Spire" and a subfolder titled "Past Setups," and Gabehart had in his possession more than a dozen photos of the screen of his JGR laptop, which had been taken on November 7, 2025.

Following the investigation, Joe Gibbs Racing says it ceased negotiations with Gabehart, and on December 15, 2025, the team sent him a demand letter demanding that he refrain from using or disclosing JGR's confidential information and trade secrets and cooperate in a forensic review to identify and return or securely delete such information.

Gabehart agreed to return any JGR information, but declined a forensic review. Gabehart indicated to the team that the "Spire" folder in his personal Google Drive "was used to store his own notes and personal records," a claim that JGR says is untrue. Gabehart also claimed that he "has not retained any documents concerning JGR's sensitive financial data," another claim that JGR says is untrue, as photos taken by Gabehart on November 7, 2025, allegedly contain a significant amount of sensitive financial information.

In the same letter to JGR on December 17, Gabehart first disclosed to Joe Gibbs Racing that he had received an unsolicited offer from Spire Motorsports on November 13, but Gabehart claimed that the offer was not to provide services similar to those he provided to JGR.

Both parties agreed to a forensic protocol, where a third-party expert would securely delete confirmed JGR information from Gabehart's Google Drive and personal cell phone. JGR says Gabehart objected to a comprehensive examination of the information to see whether the material had been transferred, stored, or shared in other locations.

JGR accepted the objection under the expectation that Gabehart would not compete in the marketplace, and JGR would "consistently and uniformly" inform Gabehart that JGR would be forced to bring legal action against him if he did not agree to the cooling off period, during which he would not provide services supporting another team's competition efforts, given the information lifted from JGR for the benefit of Spire Motorsports.

When Gabehart submitted his devices to the examiner on January 12, 2026, Joe Gibbs Racing learned for the first time that Gabehart had 20 of JGR's racecar setup files contained within his "Spire" folder in his personal Google Drive, as well as the additional laptop photos that were taken on November 7, 2025.

On February 11, 2026, Joe Gibbs Racing first learned that Gabehart had planned on taking the position of Chief Motorsports Officer at Spire, a position which would make Gabehart responsible for all of Spire's racing strategy and operations, which conflicted with the description of the role that Gabehart told JGR that he was offered at Spire, previously.

According to Joe Gibbs Racing, the additional laptop photos taken on November 7 included comprehensive post-race audit and analyses of team and driver performance for the entire 2025 NASCAR season, complete team payroll details including job titles, contract length, annual compensation, incentive compensation, and compensation plans for prior years, and a JGR employee compensation calculator used to project and plan pay for key positions within the team.

The screenshots also contained driver pay for the 2025 and 2026 NASCAR seasons, revenues from sponsors, partners, and other business arrangements for the 2024, 2025, and 2026 NASCAR seasons, as well as JGR's pit crew analytics for the 2024 season, and detailed analytics of racecar tires used to assess impact on race results.

According to the complaint from JGR, Gabehart "knew or should have known that his actions were unlawful given his prior experience."

JGR also alleges that Gabehart began soliciting JGR employees to leave JGR and join Spire. According to JGR, after Gabehart left the team, one of JGR's employees supporting JGR's competition efforts left JGR's employment on January 3, 2026, and began working for Spire in a similar role immediately after departing JGR. Upon information and belief, JGR says Spire agreed to pay that employee a salary significantly exceeding what the employee earned at JGR.

Joe Gibbs Racing is seeking relief for alleged misappropriation of trade secrets by violation of the Federal Defend Trade Secrets Act, as well as the North Carolina Trade Secrets Protection Act, and the North Carolina Unfair and Deceptive Trade Practices Act.

The race team is seeking financial relief that the team seeking is expected to exceed $8,000,000 in trial.

JGR has also issued a claim for relief for Breach of Contract and another for Injunctive Relief, which asks the court to restrain Gabehart from using or disclosing JGR's confidential information and trade secrets and for him to return any such information and data still within his possession to JGR through a cease and desist order.

Joe Gibbs Racing also filed its employment agreement that it had in place with Gabehart, which includes that base salary that Gabehart earned as the team's competition director. According to the document, Gabehart was earning a $1,000,000 base salary with JGR in 2025, and was set to bump up to $1,050,000 in 2026.

Gabehart had numerous year end performance bonuses in the deal, including a $125,000 bonus if JGR was able to finish 1st in the final NASCAR Cup Series owner points, something the No. 11 JGR team was three laps away from accomplishing in Phoenix last season.

Gabehart received a $65,000 bonus for each JGR car that entered the Championship 4, a $25,000 bonus for each JGR car that made the Playoffs Round of 8, and $10,000 for each JGR car that made the Playoffs Round of 12.

Additionally, Gabehart received a $20,000 bonus for each race win or All-Star race win by the JGR teams in 2025, and once the team crossed eight wins on the year, he was set to earn a $30,000 bonus per race win.