Joe Gibbs Racing sues former competition director and crew chief Chris Gabehart for allegedly stealing info
· Yahoo Sports
Joe Gibbs Racing has filed a lawsuit against former competition director and crew chief Chris Gabehart, alleging that Gabehart attempted to “steal JGR’s most sensitive information” and take it to Spire Motorsports to be the team’s Chief Motorsports Officer.
According to the suit, Gabehart had information from Joe Gibbs Racing like “comprehensive post-race audit and analyses of team and driver performance for the 2025 season,” “complete payroll details including job titles, contract length, annual compensation, incentive compensation, and compensation plans for prior years, sponsor revenue and the team’s pit crew analytics from the 2024 season on his personal phone and Google Photos account.
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Additionally, the team says Gabehart had a “Spire” folder on his work computer with proprietary JGR information about how the team operates and how it creates setups. JGR is asking for $8 million in damages along with attorney fees.
Gabehart was the team’s Cup Series competition director in 2025 after serving as Denny Hamlin’s crew chief for the previous six seasons. Hamlin won 22 races with Gabehart atop the pit box and made NASCAR’s title race in three of those six seasons. Before working with Hamlin in the Cup Series, Gabehart crew chiefed in the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series for the team.
Per the suit, the team parted ways with Gabehart after he asked for more control over the team’s racing decisions. When JGR said no, the parties began working on a separation agreement. After Gabehart left, the team did a routine analysis of his computer and found the folder marked with Spire’s name. The team says Gabehart saved the information on Nov. 7, the day after his meeting with team owner Joe Gibbs.
Spire has been a Cup Series team since the 2019 season and expanded to three cars in 2024. It is fielding cars for Michael McDowell, Carson Hocevar and Daniel Suarez in 2026.