03/02/26 02:07:00
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03/02 14:06 CST Federal judge allows Gabehart continue working at Spire so long
as he avoids Gibbs-related duties
Federal judge allows Gabehart continue working at Spire so long as he avoids
Gibbs-related duties
By JENNA FRYER
AP Auto Racing Writer
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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AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing
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