Here’s What Happened in the JGR vs. Chris Gabehart/Spire Lawsuit This Week (March 28-April 3)

A week after a preliminary injunction hearing was held in the lawsuit between Joe Gibbs Racing vs. its ex-competition director Chris Gabehart and Spire Motorsports, a second motion for expedited discovery filed by JGR was the headliner in a relatively quiet week as the parties await Judge Susan C. Rodriguez’s ruling in the Western District of North Carolina.

JGR is alleging that Gabehart misappropriated its confidential information and trade secrets upon his departure in Nov. 2025, then coordinated with Spire to transfer that information to benefit Spire’s performance. JGR also accused Gabehart of violating his non-compete agreement by signing with Spire, though JGR alleges that his agreement prohibited him from working for another NASCAR team for 18 months. That is part of the injunctive relief it is seeking from the court in an effort to bar Gabehart from competing in a similar role to that of his former role. JGR is also using Gabehart for $8 million in damages.

Here’s everything you need to catch up on from this week’s events surrounding the case.

Read all of Frontstretch’s content covering the JGR vs. Gabehart/Spire lawsuit here

• JGR’s filing builds on the hearing centered around expedited discovery on March 16. Judge Rodriguez granted JGR limited discovery on documents detailing Gabehart’s communications with Spire.

• Additionally, Judge Rodgriguez granted Gabehart reciprocal discovery on JGR communications referring to his separation agreement, invoking his rights of a restrictive covenant that would have reduced his non-compete term to one week, and his compensation.

• JGR opened up its filing by citing the fact that Gabehart admitted to deleting texts with Spire co-owner Jeff Dickerson before Nov. 15. Spire later informed JGR that texts with Dickerson had been deleted before Jan. 26.

• In a supplemental filing on March 25, Gabehart addressed the deletion of the texts, stating that “his text messages with Mr. Dickerson prior to November 15, 2025 were deleted and are not available at this time. The deletion occurred on November 15, 2025, before litigation was threatened or reasonably anticipated, and therefore Mr. Gabehart was under no legal duty at that time to preserve information related to this lawsuit,” the filing read.

• JGR furthered its case for expedited discovery of the deleted texts, stating “The deletion of these text messages justifies additional expedited discovery, which is necessary to preserve relevant evidence that is at risk of being lost before merits discovery, and to provide greater information about the circumstances leading to the deletions.”

• Because Gabehart’s acknowledgement later on, JGR said it finds it “troubling” that neither Gabehart or Spire disclosed the deletion of the texts in the March 16 hearing.

• JGR further insisted that Gabehart “knew or reasonably should have known” about potential legal action stemming from his alleged misappropriation of confidential information.

• Notably, after seeking communications from Dickerson, Spire’s counsel confirmed to JGR that Dickerson did not have the texts Gabehart deleted due to a “purported automatic deletion feature,” which Dickerson claimed he didn’t deactivate until Feb. 26.

• In questioning why Gabehart deleted the texts, JGR contested that he has yet to provide sufficient reasoning for doing so, proceeding to accuse him of deleting the messages with Dickerson to “conceal misconduct.”

• JGR also made several requests for expedited discovery to further dig into deleted communications between Gabehart and Spire, as well as requesting third-party subpoenas.

• The subpoenas include one to Dickerson in pursuit of documents or his communications with Gabehart about his employment with Spire, JGR’s trade secrets and documents detailing Dickerson’s usage autodelete features on his devices.

• In its request to seek documents detailing communication between Dickerson and Gabehart about his Spire employment, JGR cited three reasons in doing so: to identify deleted communications, confirm that Dickerson does not have communications with Gabehart from Oct. 1 through Nov. 15, 2025 and to see if there are any references between Dickerson and Gabehart about JGR’s trade secrets through employment discussions.

• A second set of requested subpoenas include Gabehart’s and Dickerson’s telephone providers to seek production of phone calls or texts between the two from Oct. 1, 2025 through March 13.

• The last set of requested subpoenas included several fellow NASCAR Cup Series team owners and executives, with those people being Haas Factory Team owner Joe Custer, Trackhouse Racing’s Justin Marks (owner) and Todd Meredith (president of racing operations), and Rick Ware Racing’s Rick Ware (owner) and Tommy Baldwin (RWR’s competition director).

• JGR’s merit behind requesting the subpoenas of each of these team leaders is that their respective teams are all Chevrolet teams and that those teams are the most likely to have communicated with Dickerson regarding Spire’s potential possession of JGR’s trade secrets.

• In the March 16 hearing, Judge Rodriguez initially denied the request for the subpoenas of the team owners and executives “without prejudice,” leaving the door open to revisit the request.

• In addition to its subpoenas, JGR requested a forensic review of Dickerson’s devices to see if Gabehart’s deleted texts are retrievable and when the autodelete function on any of his devices were activated.

• In its argument, JGR continued to re-iterate it has suffered harm and continues to do so from Gabehart’s alleged misappropriation of trade secrets, arguing it strengthens its cause for relief in the form of discovery.

• JGR also recalled Gabehart admitting to taking its trade secrets, though Gabehart maintained he never shared those with Spire.

• Lastly, by requesting a forensic review of Dickerson’s devices, JGR is seeking to find “if and to what extent [Dickerson] had access to and used the materials originating from JGR that Gabehart took from JGR,” the filing stated.

• Both Gabehart and Spire continue to maintain neither has shared or transferred any of JGR’s trade secrets, contrasting the claims by accusing JGR of breaching Gabehart’s separation agreement through terminating him without cause and not compensating him correctly or in a timely manner.

• Currently, Gabehart has a temporary restraining order through April 9 that prohibits him from performing any services similar to his duties as JGR’s competition director.