Joe Gibbs Racing filed an ‘expedited motion for discovery’ with the Western District of North Carolina on Sunday night seeking evidence that Spire Motorsports ‘induced or encouraged’ Chris Gabehart to ‘acquire or disclose’ trade secrets as part of a job change.
Gabehart most recently served as the Joe Gibbs Racing competition director in 2025 to close a 13-year tenure in which the 45-year-old was also a championship-caliber engineer and crew chief. He officially joined Spire this month as Chief Motorsports Officer.
That job change also came after just a single year of the three-year agreement Gabehart entered into with Joe Gibbs Racing. As a result, JGR believes Gabehart is bound by non-competes and NDAs for the next 18 months and is seeking a restraining order against the defendants from continuing to work together until then.
Gabehart says this is ‘punitive’ over an employing ‘daring to leave.’ A hearing took place on Friday but generally ended with a plea from Judge Susan C. Rodriguez to find middle ground over a restraining order motion.
Joe Gibbs Racing believes the figurative seeds of his departure were planted as early as October. A series of legal filings on Sunday were used to illustrate an alleged timeline in which Gabehart and Spire may have conspired to violate nondisclosure and non-compete agreements.
In a declaration by longtime NASCAR crew chief turned JGR competition executive Todd Berrier, Gabehart disclosed in October a meeting with TWG Motorsports co-owner Dan Towriss — one of the primary backers of the nascent Spire empire.
“On or about October 21, 2025, Gabehart told me that he had a meeting with co-owner of Spire, Dan Towriss, about a potential job. Later that night, Gabehart texted me to confirm that he had that meeting.”
For this reason, combined with a digital forensic trail that revealed Gabehart started to place proprietary Joe Gibbs Racing data on his personal devices and cloud storage between that conversation and his departure, the organization has asked the court to force Spire and Gabehart to subject themselves to a targeted fact discovery process for the following documents:
- All Communications between Defendant Spire and Defendant Gabehart Relating to Gabehart’s potential employment at Spire.
- All Documents and Communications Relating to any potential or actual agreement by Defendant Spire or its owners to indemnify Defendant Gabehart for any breach of his JGR employment agreement or for any other claim that could be asserted by JGR against Defendant Gabehart, including for using, retaining, transferring, or copying any of JGR’s Confidential Information and Trade Secrets.
- All Communications from Defendant Gabehart and any other JGR employees Relating to employment at Defendant Spire.
- All Communications between Defendant Spire, Defendant Gabehart, Dan Towriss, and/or Jeff Dickerson Relating to JGR’s race setups, strategy, operations, sponsorships, or employees.
- All Communications between Defendant Spire, Defendant Gabehart, Dan Towriss, and/or Jeff Dickerson Relating to the recruitment, hiring, potential employment and employment of Defendant Gabehart.
- All Documents and Communications Relating to Defendant Gabehart’s role as Chief Motorsports Officer at Defendant Spire.
- All Documents created or generated by Defendant Gabehart from October 1, 2025 until February 17, 2026 Relating to his potential role as Chief Motorsports Officer at Defendant Spire.
Joe Gibbs Racing also had its forensic expert and attorney Clark C. Walton from Reliance Forensics file a second declaration that testified Gabehart conducted a series of Google searches on ‘indemnity’ two days after meeting with Spire co-owner Jeff Dickerson on December 2.
Walton previously filed a declaration that showed Gabehart continued to store and access proprietary Joe Gibbs Racing data to his personal cloud storage and devices from the conversation with Berrier to his meeting with Dickerson.
Gabehart had met with Coach Joe Gibbs on November 6, at which the two agreed it would be best if they parted ways, and began negotiating a financial departure package. Gabehart contends this package, plus a competition bonus he earned as competition director, was not paid.
Joe Gibbs Racing contended in court on Friday through attorney Sarah Hutchins that it was not going to pay Gabehart to steal from them and take their proprietary data to Spire. Now, it is asking the court for expedited fact discovery to prove it.
“Shortly after this meeting, Gabehart conducted internet research on the meaning of the word ‘indemnify’ on December 4, 2026. The timing of this search strongly suggests that Spire intended to and is indemnifying Gabehart for his costs and liability in this action. This evidence, compounded by evidence of material engagement between Spire and Gabehart beginning in at least October, raises important questions regarding Spire’s involvement in Gabehart’s decision to take JGR’s most sensitive Confidential Information and Trade Secrets and access it through November including on December 2nd−the same day he met with Jeff Dickerson.”
Gabehart has continued to be adamant in filings and statements that he did not disclose any of Joe Gibbs Racing’s trade secrets with Spire Motorsports. His attorney, Cary Davis, on Friday addressed the matter in front of Judge Rodriguez.
“Gabehart admits to taking the photos (of the data on his personal cell phone) and he’s embarrassed,” Davis said. “He knows it was stupid.”
But also, Davis said Gabehart ‘stepped up to the plate’ and paid for the forensic analysis out of pocket ‘because he had nothing to hide.’ Gabehart has also filed a letter that offered to pay for a forensic analysis of both his devices and those belonging to Spire as proof that no proprietary data was disclosed.
Spire also filed on Sunday a declaration from Head of People Operations, Heather Masterson, that swore Gabehart signed an agreement to not disclose Joe Gibbs Racing trade secrets upon an employment period that began on February 17.
That document was signed on February 16.
“By signing the Confidentiality and Non-Disclosure Agreement, Mr. Gabehart agreed to ‘maintain at all times the confidentiality of JGR Confidential Information’ and ‘not [to] disclose JGR Confidential Information to Company or use JGR Confidential Information for the Company’s benefit or in connection with any services performed for or on behalf of the Company.”
Joe Gibbs Racing is also seeking a restraining order on the basis that Gabehart is performing a job at Spire as Chief Motorsports Officer that is too similar in scope as what he performed as competition director.
Both of these matters will be addressed in court on Monday afternoon in front of Judge Rodriguez.
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