Former Joe Gibbs Racing competition director and longtime NASCAR crew chief Chris Gabehart has mounted a forceful response to the lawsuit from his former employer, calling the claims “frivolous,” denying wrongdoing and alleging deeper internal dysfunction at one of stock car racing’s marquee teams.
Joe Gibbs Racing filed suit Feb. 19 in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of North Carolina, seeking more than $8 million in alleged damages and accusing Gabehart of engaging in a “brazen scheme” to take proprietary information with him as he prepared to leave the organization.
The suit later was amended to include Spire Motorsports, where Gabehart was hired last week as chief motorsports officer, and JGR has asked for a restraining order to keep him from working in a comparable role during his non-compete period.
In filings on Wednesday, Gabehart turned the narrative back on his former employer.
He went into detail about his reasons for leaving, including what he described as a dysfunctional decision-making structure involving team owner Joe Gibbs and his grandson, driver Ty Gibbs.
“I notified JGR that the job was not, at all, as advertised. I was promised a COO-type role overseeing all competitive operations with autonomy to lead,” Gabehart wrote in court documents.
“Instead, I found myself constantly intertwined with Coach (Joe) Gibbs, senior JGR executives, and family members when making even routine competition decisions — a dysfunctional organizational structure that I could not continue in.”
The lawsuit alleges Gabehart copied confidential files, including post-race audits, payroll data and tire analyses, to a personal account and a folder labeled “Spire,” and then synced that information as he exited the team.
But Gabehart disputes those assertions.
“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.
“I feel compelled to speak out today and forcefully and emphatically deny these frivolous and retaliatory claims.”
Gabehart said he commissioned an independent forensic audit of his devices, including his laptop, phone and personal Google Drive and that it found “no evidence I transmitted, distributed, used or otherwise shared any JGR confidential information. No text messages. No email attachments. No dissemination whatsoever.”
He also stated that he offered to have Spire subjected to similar scrutiny, an offer he says was ignored.
The filings go further than simple denials, revealing Gabehart’s view of how his role at JGR had become untenable.
He wrote that Gibbs pressured him to return to crew chief duties for the No. 54 car driven by Ty Gibbs during the 2025 season—a role Gabehart says he did not want on a long-term basis.
“Beginning early in the 2025 season, Coach Gibbs repeatedly pressured me to take over as crew chief of the No. 54 car. I consistently declined, explaining that as competition director I did not believe this was the right move,” Gabehart wrote.
“Despite my objections, Coach Gibbs and ownership continued pressing.”
Gabehart’s public rebuttal marks the opening salvo in what could be a protracted and closely watched legal battle that reaches beyond confidentiality claims and into matters of workplace governance and leadership within one of NASCAR’s most successful outfits.
JGR did not immediately respond to requests for comment beyond what is contained in the lawsuit.
The case is scheduled for further action in the Western District of North Carolina later this week.
