CHARLOTTE — Huntersville-based NASCAR team Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) is suing a former employee, alleging he “embarked on a brazen scheme to steal JGR’s most sensitive information.”
They claim Christopher Gabehart used the information for the benefit of a competitor, Spire Motorsports.
The case, filed in federal court on Thursday, alleges Gabehart, former Director of Competition for JGR, oversaw “the development and improvement of its internal analytics, processes, and procedures in order to improve race performance.”
Gabehart is also the former crew chief for Denny Hamlin.
During the 2025 NASCAR season, JGR claims Gabehart became unhappy in his role and wanted more responsibility and control and “carte blanche” authority over all racing decisions. When JGR leadership declined, Gabehart and JGR discussed a separation agreement and agreed to part ways, but following a number of edits to the agreement by Gabehart’s counsel, JGR became suspicious of his intent.
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JGR also learned that in the days following his departure from JGR, Gabehart had been meeting personally with Jeff Dickerson—the owner of Spire Motorsports.
Gabehart became the chief motorsports officer at Spire earlier this month.
Following the revelation of the meeting, JGR conducted a forensic investigation of Gabehart’s laptop and called the results “shocking.”
The investigation revealed several things including the fact Gabehart linked his personal Google Drive with his work computer which contained a folder titled ‘Spire,’ and another within that titled ‘Past Setups.’
When the revelations were brought to Gabehart, he claimed the folder was “used to store his own notes and personal records.”
A forensic investigator was brought in through a mutual agreement between the parties; the findings of some of JGR’s confidential information were stored on the Google Drive.
“At this point, and as set out in further detail below, JGR learned for the first time that the “Spire” folder contained, among other JGR information, 20 of JGR’s racecar setup files and that Defendant possessed additional laptop photos that he had taken,” according to the lawsuit.
The photos included information including:
- “Comprehensive post-race audit and analyses of team and driver performance for the entire 2025 NASCAR season
- Complete team payroll details including job titles, contract length, annual compensation, incentive compensation, and compensation plans for prior years;
- An employee compensation calculator used to project and plan pay for key JGR positions;
- Driver pay for the 2025 and 2026 NASCAR seasons;
- Revenues from sponsors, partners, and other business arrangements for the 2024, 2025, and 2026 NASCAR seasons;
- JGR’s pit crew analytics for the 2024 NASCAR season; and
- Detailed analytics of racecar tires used to assess impact on race results.”
In early February the forensic examiner deleted JGR’s files from Gabehart’s drive, and two days later the team fired Gabehart for cause.
Now, JGR is asking the court for several remedies, claiming monetary damages to the team “exceed $8,000,000.”
The team is also asking for a jury trial, injunctive relief, compensatory damages, interest, attorney fees, and more.
Gabehart and his attorneys have not filed any sort of response to the claims made in the lawsuit.
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