Chris Gabehart stated in a Wednesday authorized submitting that the lawsuit in opposition to him by former employer Joe Gibbs Racing isn’t about defending commerce secrets and techniques however as a substitute ‘punishing a former worker for daring to go away.’
And whereas seemingly much less consequential on the deserves of the lawsuit itself, Gabehart additionally revealed his causes for leaving Joe Gibbs Racing within the first place by citing a tradition of dysfunction with driver Ty Gibbs on the middle of the stress. Ty Gibbs is the grandson of workforce proprietor Joe Gibbs and fourth-year driver of the No. 54 Toyota.
Joe Gibbs Racing sued Gabehart final week, searching for damages of over $8 million {dollars}, for allegedly embarking on a ‘brazen scheme to steal JGR’s most delicate information’ and take it with him to Spire Motorsports, which employed him final week as Chief Motorsports Officer. JGR amended the swimsuit to incorporate Spire as a defendant on Tuesday.
Previous to becoming a member of Spire, Gabehart served as competitors director for Joe Gibbs Racing in 2025 in his thirteenth season with the group. Most notably, Gabehart gained 22 races as crew chief for Denny Hamlin, with 5 championship finishes of sixth or higher throughout the 2019 and 2024 seasons. They earned two victories within the Daytona 500.
Joe Gibbs Racing additionally filed a restraining order and movement for injunctive reduction to stop Gabehart from working at Spire. An preliminary listening to has been scheduled on the Western District of North Carolina courtroom on Friday afternoon.
As for why Gabehart left, the beneath textual content in italics have been taken straight from the submitting, suggesting a tradition of dysfunction that finally contributed to him feeling as if he was being misled and undermined.
“I notified JGR that the job was not, in any respect, as marketed. I used to be promised a COO-type position overseeing all aggressive operations with autonomy to guide. As an alternative, I discovered myself consistently intertwined with Coach (Joe) Gibbs, senior JGR executives, and relations when making even routine competitors selections—a dysfunctional organizational construction that I couldn’t proceed in.”
Gabehart stated Coach Gibbs pressured him to take over as crew chief for the 23-year-old driver. He finally spend a while on the pit field over the course of the summer season and earned an extra $25,000 per race every time he did so.
“It was my view that the No. 54 automobile ought to be managed and held accountable in the identical method because the group’s different automobiles. As an alternative, the No. 54 automobile was managed straight by Coach Gibbs and everybody within the group knew it.
“Starting early within the 2025 season, Coach Gibbs repeatedly pressured me to take over as crew chief of the No. 54 automobile. I persistently declined, explaining that as Competitors Director, I didn’t consider this was the fitting transfer, that it might undermine the long-term growth of the workforce, and that I didn’t need to be crew chief of the No. 54 or another automobile. Regardless of my objections, Coach Gibbs and possession continued urgent, and I finally conceded to the strain by first serving to the No. 54 workforce extra behind the scenes after which, starting on June 28, 2025, by publicly serving because the crew chief and calling the races on Sundays for 9 consecutive races earlier than returning these duties to the unique crew chief, Tyler Allen, in opposition to the sturdy needs of possession, once I made it clear that I didn’t need to function a crew chief for the long run.”
Gabehart stated selections regarding the No. 54 automobile had been made with out his ‘counsel or enter’ and that the motive force, Ty Gibbs was not held to the identical competitors assembly attendance requirements as teammates Christopher Bell, Chase Briscoe and Denny Hamlin.
On November 6, Gaebhart was granted a gathering with Coach Gibbs to debate the schism and that they agreed {that a} parting of how can be most amendable. Gabehart says JGR stopped paying him in November whereas he negotiated departure phrases with the group.
JGR has since sued Gabehart, claiming over $8 million {dollars} in damages and the potential for additional hurt if the previous competitors director continues to work in a organizational management capability at Spire Motorsports. Joe Gibbs Racing sued Gabehart and Spire after conducting a forensic audit that led the group to consider the previous worker broke nondisclosure agreements and state commerce safety regulation.
JGR has additionally motioned Gabehart at hand over any remaining proprietary data that’s being utilized at Spire.
For his half, Gabehart wrote that he paid for his personal forensic audit and it confirmed ‘no proof I transmitted, distributed, used or in any other case shared any JGR confidential data. No textual content messages. No electronic mail attachments. No dissemination in any respect.’ Gabehart shared a letter (beneath) that reveals a willingness from Spire Motorsports to additionally topic itself to an audit to point out that it had not obtained nor used JGR proprietary information.
Gabehart says the above letter went ignored and Joe Gibbs Racing as a substitute introduced forth a authorized grievance. The lawsuit claims Gabehart made a folder on his JGR account titled ‘Spire’ and synced it along with his private accounts. The 44-year-old engineer didn’t deny creating and accessing the folder however claims he did so purely to judge the choice to go away JGR for Spire. Gabehart says he has deleted all proprietary data from his units and didn’t share any of them with Spire.
“This lawsuit will not be about defending commerce secrets and techniques—it’s about punishing a former worker for daring to go away.
“Granting injunctive reduction and stopping me from working in NASCAR, the place I’ve devoted my whole profession, would deprive me of my livelihood and skill to work in my chosen occupation. Granting the injunctive reduction requested by JGR would successfully bar me from pursuing my livelihood in the one business through which I’ve developed experience over the course of my skilled profession.”
The entire authorized response to the lawsuit by Chris Gabehart might be discovered beneath.
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