In support of the (below) argument in support of expedited fact discovery against Chris Gabehart and Spire Motorsports team owners Dan Towriss and Jeff Dickerson, Joe Gibbs Racing filed legal documents that revealed their hiring of a private investigator that followed them defendants after the Cup Series season had ended.
Additionally, JGR filed exhibits in the form of declarations from team competition director Wally Brown, driver Denny Hamlin, Toyota’s Andy Graves and rival team owner Bob Jenkins to support why it is so important to uncover as soon as possible whether or not Spire acquired proprietary competition data upon hiring Gaebhart.
In Exhibit C, filed overnight on Friday into Saturday, Joe Gibbs revealed it had purchased the services of a North Carolina licensed private investigator named Ryan Simpson from Barefoot Private Investigations.
Simpson declared through his legal filing the following timeline and photographic evidence of interactions between Gabehart and Dickerson:
On December 2, 2025, I witnessed Gabehart drive his vehicle to the Spire Motorsports (“Spire”) facility at 11:54 AM. At 12:02 PM, Spire owner Jeff Dickerson (“Dickerson”) entered Gabehart’s vehicle. Below is a still photograph from video captured of Dickerson entering Gabehart’s vehicle.
Gabehart then drove to a nearby restaurant, which they entered at 12:22 PM. From 12:22 PM to 1:47 PM, Gabehart and Dickerson remained together at the restaurant. Below is a still photograph from video captured of Gabehart and Dickerson sitting together at the restaurant.
Gabehart and Dickerson departed the restaurant at 1 :47 PM and arrived back at Spire’s facility at 2:00 PM. Below is a still photograph from video captured of Dickerson departing Gabehart’s vehicle.
The Alpern declaration
There was also declaration written by Joe Gibbs Racing president Dave Alpern that detailed the timeline which he and Gabehart met to discuss a separation agreement in early December. In this exchange, Gabehart told Alpern that he had not discussed employment with Spire. Alpern also wanted to know what Jennifer Gabehart flew to the Phoenix race in November on the Spire plane.
“On December 3, 2025 at 8:05 PM, Defendant Christopher Gabehart (“Gabehart”) sent me a text message stating “Good evening, Dave. Would it do us any good to have a discussion about what needs to happen from here? Surely no one really wants to do the other any harm? I know I don’t.” I responded, “Hi Chris [i]n agreement we don’t want to do harm we just want to do what’s right. I’m happy to have a discussion tomorrow.””
“On December 4, 2025 at 11:19 AM, I called Gabehart and spoke to him by phone. During that call, I advised him that if he did not want to harm JGR then he should be honest about his plans for employment. I specifically asked about employment with Spire Motorsports (“Spire”). Gabehart acknowledged that he had recently had lunch with Spire owner JeffDickerson (“Dickerson”) and that his spouse had flown on Dickerson’s airplane to attend the NASCAR Cup Series Championship race at Phoenix in November 2025. Gabehart then explained that he and Dickerson were friends and nothing beyond that, and that they had not discussed employment.
At the conclusion of our call, Gabehart told me that his fourteen years of working for JGR should count for something and that I should trust him.”
Alpern says they have not talked since December 4.
Hamlin and Jenkins declarations
To illustrate the importance of the information Gabehart could have potentially stored and/or shared to Spire, Joe Gibbs Racing used the voices of Hamlin and Jenkins to underscore what proprietary data could mean for Spire.
Hamlin and Gabehart were paired at the JGR No. 11 team from 2019-to-2024 as driver and crew chief but in a different capacity in 2025 when the latter was promoted to competition director. Hamlin says Gabehart has access to the ‘crown jewels’ of JGR information.
“I have reviewed the description of the materials Gabehart apparently retained on his personal cell phone and personal Google Drive account as described in the Walter Brown declaration. This information represents the crown jewels of our racing operation. …
“The materials Gabehart took—including car setups, simulation files, post-race analytics, tire management strategies, fuel mileage calculations, and pit crew performance data— represent decades of JGR’s research, development, and innovation specifically designed to optimize speed and win races. These materials provide a comprehensive roadmap for JGR’s competitive strategies and are the exact set of proprietary and confidential information any of JGR’s competitors would want in order to understand JGR’s processes, technological capabilities, and payment structures that have led to JGR’s overwhelming success.”
To wit, Jenkins of Front Row Racing lended his voice to the argument about what he could do with JGR’s proprietary information and why he believes such data should not be taken with an employee when he or she leaves a team.
“The secrecy of NASCAR racing teams’ racecar setups and strategies have become particularly important in recent years given the implementation of NextGen racecars in 2022, which standardized racecars across NASCAR teams. Teams may make limited modifications to the racecar setups or components-making even very slight modifications to the setup or compilation of a racecar crucial to the competition.
“Because this information is so crucial to each team’s race performance and overall strategy, it is paramount that employees abide by their confidentiality obligations and refrain from taking any teams’ confidential information with them if they choose to leave employment with one team for another. It is crossing over the line of fair competition in the industry to take confidential and strategic information from one NASCAR race team to a competitor NASCAR race team.”
Sponsorship inquiries
Joe Gibbs Racing also posted two declarations from sponsors SAIA and Zep about efforts from Spire Motorsports to potentially change their team affiliations.
From SAIA’s Bill Lealos:
“The week of February 23, 2026, I received a direct message on LinkedIn from Cameron of Spire Motorsports. Sieradzan’s Linkedln headline states: “Partnerships at Spire Motorsports | NASCAR Cup Series.” I have never met Sieradzan or anyone at Spire Motorsports.
“In the direct message, Sieradzan requested a meeting to discuss the racing industry. I declined the request. Sieradzan subsequently asked whether I would like to meet if he found a place near the hotel I was staying at in Austin, Texas for the NASCAR Cup race weekend. I likewise declined the second request.”
From Zep’s Greg Heyer:
“On February 27, 2026 at 9:38 a.m., I received a text message from Stephen D’Hondt, Chief Operating Officer of Spire Motorsports. D’Hondt invited me to an event on March 7, 2026 hosted by Spire Motorsports to be held in Phoenix, Arizona during the NASCAR race weekend featuring many music artists, including Diplo.
“Prior to receiving D’Hondt’s text message, I had not seen D’Hondt in person in over a year. My last communication with D’Hondt was a text message I sent to him on January 19, 2026 letting him know Zep was sponsoring JGR for the 2026 NASCAR Cup season.”
The implication here is that this overture occurred after its conceptually possible that Gabehart could have shared JGR’s sponsorship value data with Spire. That would also be a reason that Joe Gibbs Racing believes that Spire and Gabehart could be harming them from a legal standard.
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