Chris Gabehart mentioned in a Wednesday authorized submitting that the lawsuit towards 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 depart.’
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 heart of the strain. 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 knowledge‘ 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 under textual content in italics have been taken immediately from the submitting, suggesting a tradition of dysfunction that in the end 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 a substitute, I discovered myself continuously 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 mentioned Coach Gibbs pressured him to take over as crew chief for the 23-year-old driver. He in the end spend a while on the pit field over the course of the summer time and earned a further $25,000 per race every time he did so.
“It was my view that the No. 54 automobile must be managed and held accountable in the identical method because the group’s different vehicles. As a substitute, the No. 54 automobile was managed immediately 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 constantly declined, explaining that as Competitors Director, I didn’t consider this was the best transfer, that it could 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 ultimately conceded to the stress 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, towards the sturdy wishes of possession, after I made it clear that I didn’t need to function a crew chief for the long run.”
Gabehart mentioned selections regarding the No. 54 automobile have been made with out his ‘counsel or enter’ and that the driving 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 the way could 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 legislation.
JGR has additionally motioned Gabehart handy over any remaining proprietary info 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 info. No textual content messages. No e-mail attachments. No dissemination by any means.’ Gabehart shared a letter (under) that reveals a willingness from Spire Motorsports to additionally topic itself to an audit to indicate that it had not obtained nor used JGR proprietary knowledge.
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 together 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 depart JGR for Spire. Gabehart says he has deleted all proprietary info from his gadgets and didn’t share any of them with Spire.
“This lawsuit isn’t about defending commerce secrets and techniques—it’s about punishing a former worker for daring to depart.
“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 talent to work in my chosen career. Granting the injunctive reduction requested by JGR would successfully bar me from pursuing my livelihood in the one business wherein I’ve developed experience over the course of my skilled profession.”
The whole authorized response to the lawsuit by Chris Gabehart might be discovered under.
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