JGR adds Spire in amended lawsuit against ex-competition director
JGR adds Spire in amended lawsuit against ex-competition director
Field Level MediaWed, February 25, 2026 at 6:12 PM UTC
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Feb 11, 2026; Daytona Beach, Florida, USA; NASCAR Cup Series team owner Joe Gibbs during qualifying for the Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images (Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images)
Joe Gibbs Racing has amended its lawsuit against its former competition director to include Spire Motorsports, alleging the NASCAR team illegally obtained proprietary information from the ex-employee.
The amendment filed on Tuesday in the Western District of North Carolina calls the defendants' actions "immoral, unethical and unscrupulous" and seeks a temporary restraining order and a preliminary injunction against longtime JGR employee Chris Gabehart.
The lawsuit originally filed last Thursday seeks damages of at least $8 million.
The amended filing asks the court for a permanent injunction to stop Gabehart, now the chief motorsports officer for Spire, from "working or performing any services for Spire similar to those he provided to JGR for the 18 months following February 9, 2026." JGR also wants Gabehart to cease and desist using, sharing, copying or transferring any of its proprietary information.
Spire was added to the suit because JGR claims it is benefiting from Gabehart's "misappropriation of trade secrets" and "the competitive information he has used and improperly retained will give Spire a competitive advantage in the marketplace."
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Spire Motorsports declined a request for comment from The Athletic.
Gabehart put in 13 years at JGR, including a lengthy stint as Denny Hamlin's crew chief and more recently as the director of competition. His base salary last year reportedly was $1 million before bonuses.
According to motorsport.com, a JGR investigation found that Gabehart set up a folder on his computer, shared to his personal cloud storage, that listed team details including salaries and performance reviews of drivers, crew chiefs and pit crews.
JGR alleges that Gabehart looked at those files in the midst of finalizing his departure from the team on the same day he had a meeting with Spire co-owner Jeff Dickerson.
JGR is owned by Pro Football Hall of Fame coach Joe Gibbs, 85, who won three Super Bowls as head coach of the Washington franchise. In NASCAR, his drivers have won five Cup Series championships and four Daytona 500s.
--Field Level Media
Source: “AOL Sports”
