CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Almost a week after Joe Gibbs Racing filed a federal lawsuit against former competition director Chris Gabehart alleging that he stole confidential trade secrets from the NASCAR team, Gabehart adamantly defended himself Wednesday in a response filed in the Western District of North Carolina.
Gabehart stated JGR’s lawsuit is “not about protecting trade secrets — it is about punishing a former employee for daring to leave.” He also goes into detail about how issues he had with the direction of the No. 54 team JGR fields in NASCAR’s premier Cup Series factored heavily into his decision to leave the team after 13 years. That No. 54 car is driven by Ty Gibbs, grandson of team founder and co-owner Joe Gibbs and the son of JGR co-owner Heather Gibbs.
“I further expressed serious concerns about the management of JGR’s No. 54 car,” Gabehart said in his signed affidavit. “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 (Joe) Gibbs and everyone in the organization knew it.”
Joe Gibbs, a three-time Super Bowl-winning head coach, promoted Gabehart in November 2024 to JGR’s competition director after Gabehart had been JGR driver Denny Hamlin’s crew chief since 2019. As competition director, Gabehart oversaw all four of JGR’s Cup entries and claims he was promised “a COO-type role overseeing all competitive operations with autonomy to lead.”
Chris Gabehart works as the crew chief for Denny Hamlin at Talladega Speedway in 2023. (Jeffrey Vest / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
That promise, however, went unfulfilled, he said.
“Instead, I found myself constantly intertwined with Coach 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.
Although Gabehart’s position called for him to work with all four JGR teams, he alleges JGR management began “repeatedly” pressuring him to also serve as crew chief for Ty Gibbs during the early part of the 2025 season. This timeframe coincided with Ty Gibbs struggling to produce results on the track that were in line with his three teammates, Hamlin, Christopher Bell and Chase Briscoe.
Eventually, Gabehart stated he gave in to the pressure and agreed to take over as crew chief for Ty Gibbs for a nine-race stretch. He then returned solely to the role of competition direction during the latter part of the season, but claims he was still not given the authority he had been promised, nor was he allowed to manage Ty Gibbs’ No. 54 team how he best saw fit. These disagreements created a situation that eroded to the point where Gabehart eventually sought to leave the organization he had been with since 2012, and within which he was regarded as a key member.
“I also identified specific examples of the No. 54 team’s differential treatment that undermined my position as competition director,” Gabehart said. “For example, key personnel decisions were made without my counsel or input despite my role as competition director; and critically, the No. 54 driver was not held to the same meeting attendance standards as others on the team.
“On November 6, 2025, after providing the written notice and long after many oral notices were provided to JGR leadership, I met with Coach Gibbs to discuss these concerns in person. During that meeting, I reiterated the issues identified in the written notice and expressed my desire for a resolution. Following that meeting, Coach Gibbs and I agreed we needed to begin the process of working out the terms of a separation.”
As the two sides worked through November on a separation agreement, Gabehart claims JGR stopped paying his salary later that month, and talks between them eventually broke down. During this period, JGR performed a forensic analysis on Gabehart’s company-issued laptop and alleges the team found evidence he had “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.”
JGR alleges that additional forensic analysis showed Gabehart had spoken multiple times to Spire management about a position with that team and even created a folder labeled “Spire,” and a subfolder labeled “past setups” where he stored stolen confidential JGR proprietary information with the intent of taking the secured information with him to Spire. Gabehart contends the folder labeled “Spire” was created solely to evaluate whether to take a position with the team.
Last week, Spire confirmed Gabehart joined the team as its chief motorsports officer. JGR is seeking a restraining order preventing Gabehart from working at Spire for a period of 18 months. JGR also claims Gabehart caused more than $8 million in damages and is pursuing restitution.
On Wednesday, Gabehart admitted in his declaration that he used his personal phone to take photographs of a JGR Excel file, along with other notes and files, but claims that he “created or had a significant role in their development.” He also asserts that he understood that, due to the confidentiality agreement he signed with JGR, he was prohibited from sharing the information with another team, nor did he have any intention of doing so.
“All of the information contained within the files was relevant to my job at JGR,” Gabehart said. “I understood my confidentiality obligations to JGR and had no intent to violate those obligations with respect to JGR’s confidential or trade secret information. I did not plan to use any such information in future employment and have not done so.”
A hearing is scheduled for Friday afternoon on JGR’s request for a temporary restraining order to prevent Gabehart from working at Spire.