In a move that has sent shockwaves through the NASCAR garage, Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) has filed a high-stakes federal lawsuit against its former competition director and Denny Hamlin’s former crew chief, Chris Gabehart. The powerhouse organization alleges that Gabehart orchestrated a “brazen scheme” to steal proprietary trade secrets and sensitive financial data to benefit a rival team, Spire Motorsports.
According to court filings reported by Bob Pockrass and Jordan Bianchi, JGR is seeking a staggering $8,000,000 in damages. The team claims that Gabehart’s exit during the 2025 offseason wasn’t just a simple career move, but a calculated effort to take JGR’s competitive data to his new destination.
In a recent post on X, Jordan Bianchi said:
“NEWS: Joe Gibbs Racing has filed a lawsuit against former competition director Chris Gabehart alleging he “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.”
The lawsuit highlights a series of alleged security breaches discovered during a forensic analysis of Gabehart’s company laptop. JGR claims the results were “shocking,” revealing that Gabehart had allegedly synced his personal Google Drive to his work computer to copy confidential files.
Perhaps most damning is the discovery of a digital folder titled “Spire,” which allegedly contained race setup information for the 2025 Las Vegas Cup race, among other technical analytics.
What Joe Gibbs said after Chris Gabehart’s shock JGR exit
In the wake of the split with former Competition Director Chris Gabehart, Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) is moving forward with a major overhaul of its leadership structure. Team owner Joe Gibbs confirmed this week that the organization will ditch the traditional single-director model in favor of a specialized “Competition Committee” to lead the team into the 2026 season.
Speaking with SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, Gibbs said:
“Yeah, just after the season Chris [Gabehart] and I met, and we just decided to go our separate ways. And because of that, what we did is Wally Brown came back as he had been in that role. He was working less time with us, like three days a week, but brought Wally back, and he’s great in that role.”
Furthermore, Hall of Famer Gibbs added:
“We just had our competition meeting yesterday, and then we have four others that work on a committee. Then they’re focused on week to week. We have other people that assist them. Okay, but there are the ones that have to make our cars go fast. They’re focused on week-to-week going fast. Everybody else in the company, including me, assist them. And my job is to get them the money it takes to help us go fast.”
Chris Gabehart has had a long and successful career at Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR), starting in 2012. He began as an engineer and worked his way up to become a crew chief in the Xfinity Series.
His most famous partnership started in 2019 when he moved to the Cup Series to work with Denny Hamlin. Together, they became one of the most successful duos in the sport before Gabehart was promoted to JGR’s Director of Competition for the 2025 season.
