Federal judge allows Gabehart continue working at Spire so long as he avoids Gibbs-related duties
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — A federal judge ruled Monday that former Joe Gibbs Racing competition director Chris Gabehart can continue to work for Spire Motorsports but not the role he performed with his old NASCAR team.
Gabehart is the chief motorsports officer at Spire, a job that encompasses most of parent company TWG Global’s racing properties. He made his first public appearance as a Spire employee over the weekend at the IndyCar event in St. Petersburg, Florida.
Gabehart can travel to this weekend’s race at Phoenix Raceway, where both NASCAR and IndyCar are competing. TWG Motorsports also owns Andretti Global of IndyCar.
The ruling Monday from U.S. District Judge Susan C. Rodriguez in the Western District of North Carolina followed her order that both sides attempt to find a resolution following Friday’s hearing on JGR’s motion for a restraining order to prevent Gabehart from working for Spire.
She set a March 16 date for a full hearing regarding Gabehart’s employment.
Another complaint from JGR that Gabehart stole data from the team to give to Spire has not yet been addressed. JGR has claimed Gabehart caused more than $8 million in damages by copying files and setups from the team, and Spire has been named as a defendant.
Rodriguez on Monday ordered Gabehart to return all data and material he has from JGR to the team owned by Joe Gibbs, who founded the NASCAR organization in 1992 after he won three Super Bowls as Washington’s football coach.
Gibbs is a member of both the Pro Football Hall of Fame and NASCAR Hall of Fame and now co-owns JGR with his daughter-in-law, Heather. The team fields Cup cars for Christopher Bell, Chase Briscoe, Ty Gibbs and Denny Hamlin.
“Spire takes trade secrets very seriously, and we’re a lot of things, but we’re not hypocrites,” Spire co-owner Jeff Dickerson said. “We don’t want anybody else’s stuff, other than Hendrick, obviously. We’re happy. The facts are the facts and I don’t have any ill will toward JGR.
“I think we got thrown in because that’s where it landed. I’m happy with the decision and we take trade secrets super seriously.”
Spire already has an alliance with Hendrick Motorsports, a deal that gives the team access to the Hendrick data. Hendrick is the winningest team in NASCAR history. Spire fields Cup cars for Carson Hocevar, Michael McDowell and Daniel Suarez, as well as a Truck Series team. JGR does not have a Truck Series team.
Gibbs and his daughter-in-law were not in court Monday for the 10-minute proceeding. They did attend last Friday’s hearing.
“We are pleased with today’s ruling by the United States District Court for the Western District of North Carolina for a temporary restraining order enforcing the terms of our contract with Chris Gabehart,” JGR said in a statement. “We will continue the legal process to protect our information and fight for what is right for our race team, our employees, and our partners.”
Gabehart joined JGR in 2012 as an engineer, worked his way to crew chief for Hamlin and became competition director ahead of the 2025 season. Gabehart spent six seasons as Hamlin’s crew chief and the duo won 22 Cup races — two of which were the Daytona 500 — and qualified for the championship finale three times.
Hamlin finished fifth or better in six seasons under Gabehart, while Hamlin’s wins and laps-led were second-best in the Cup Series during that period.
Gabehart admitted to the court he did take photographs on his phone of a JGR Excel file and other projects that he had played a role in developing. But Gabehart insisted a forensic audit proved the information was never shared with any other organization.
He says his 13-year tenure at JGR began to unravel when he was pressured last season to crew chief Ty Gibbs, the grandson of the team owner, despite having been promoted to competition director at the end of 2024.
“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 told the court. “Instead, I found myself constantly intertwined with Coach Gibbs, senior JGR executives and family members when making even routine competition decisions — a dysfunctional organizational structure that I could not continue in.”
Gabehart said from the IndyCar race on Saturday that the dispute is not about him being pressured to crew chief Ty Gibbs, who Gabehart said was not held to the same standard as the other drivers. He said he feels bad about the publicity his dispute has caused for NASCAR and the Gibbs family, who employed him for 13 seasons.
“Deep down, I believe Ty is a really good person who has been delt a really tough hand the last three years, him and his family,” Gabehart said, “and I feel really bad about that.”
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