Less than a week after the Daytona 500, the NASCAR team filed proceedings against Gabehart for the “brazen theft of its confidential information and trade secrets” after he left the team.
JGR has claimed $8 million USD ($11.3 million AUD) in damages.
Gabehart is one of NASCAR’s most well-known pit lane personalities. He joined the Gibbs-run team in 2012 and rose to become Denny Hamlin’s crew chief.
In 2025, he was appointed competition director in a role that gave him greater access.
Later that year, Gabehart sought to up the ante with a request to JGR to have “carte blanche authority over all racing decisions” at the NASCAR team.
JGR denied Gabehart that request, and he duly left in November to join Spire Motorsports where he became its chief motorsport officer.
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In court filings, JGR alleged Gabehart had synced his personal Google Drive with his team-supplied laptop.
Said Google Drive had folders named “Spire” and a sub-folder named “past setups” as well as photos of his screen allegedly containing JGR files, confidential information, and trade secrets.
In October and November, Gaberhart allegedly made Google searches relating to Spire.
JGR said it learned Gabehart had met with Spire in late 2025, which prompted the team to begin an investigation.
The NASCAR team said Gabehart took steps to cover his tracks, alleging he knew his actions were unlawful.
JGR said it believed Gabehart’s move to Spire would not be such a high-profile position and “would not provide Spire with services similar to the services he provided JGR.”
JGR claimed Gabehart began recruiting staff to join him at Spire, and at least one staff member had moved.
Days out from the second NASCAR Cup Series race at Atlanta Motor Speedway, Gabehart responded to the allegations on social media.
“Yesterday afternoon, Joe Gibbs Racing filed a lawsuit claiming – falsely – that I shared JGR confidential information with Spire Motorsports and/or other unnamed third parties,” he wrote in a statement.
“I feel compelled to speak out today and forcefully and emphatically deny these frivolous and retaliatory claims.
“I look forward to the opportunity to demonstrate to the Court that I have not shared JGR’s confidential information with anyone.
“In fact, I have already demonstrated that to JGR. A third-party forensic expert retained by JGR recently examined my laptop, cell phone and personal Google Drive and found no evidence to support the baseless allegations in JGR’s lawsuit.
“We even offered JGR the opportunity to do a similar review of Spire’s systems. JGR refused that offer and filed this spiteful lawsuit instead.
“Stay tuned. We will have much more to say in the legal response we will be filing in the coming days.”
JGR made its filings in the Western District of North Carolina.
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