Here’s What Happened in the JGR vs. Chris Gabehart/Spire Lawsuit This Week (Sept. 26-Oct. 2)

Business picked up exceptionally in the lawsuit between Joe Gibbs Racing vs. its ex-competition director Chris Gabehart and his current employer of Spire Motorsports over the misappropriation of trade secrets and contractual disputes.

The litigation is entering its eighth month after JGR filed the suit in February that accused Gabehart of misappropriating trade secrets after his departure from the team in November 2025. JGR maintains that Gabehart transmitted that data to Spire, where he currently serves as the chief motorsports officer, and that Spire has used that information to benefit its NASCAR Cup Series team.

JGR has also accused both Gabehart and Spire of violating his non-compete agreement that barred him from performing in a similar role to his competition director position for a rival Cup team for 18 months. Gabehart and Spire argue that was shortened to one week when Gabehart invoked a condition of his agreement that the job did not meet what he believed was entailed.

As of late, the primary disputes have centered around the closing of the fact discovery window as all sides seek to obtain documents they believe will tip the scale in their favor.

A trial date is set for Feb. 1, 2027, in the Western District of North Carolina with Judge Susan C. Rodriguez presiding over the case.

Catch up on the important details you may have missed this week!

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

• On Thursday (Oct. 1), a discovery conference was held in the Charles R. Jonas Federal Building of the Western District of North Carolina, presided over by Judge Magistrate David. C Keesler.

• The hearing primarily addressed the motions by both parties to compel the production of key documents related to the case. JGR is seeking Spire’s competition meeting recordings and notes that may have included Gabehart, as well as race setups it believes Gabehart stole from JGR. In turn, Spire is seeking documents that establish what JGR considers to be trade secrets, OEM agreements between JGR and Toyota Racing Development and metadata on the timeline that Gabehart misappropriated JGR’s trade secrets.

• The following recap from the hearing is attributed to Matt Weaver of Motorsport; Frontstretch was not in attendance for this particular hearing. Click on Weaver’s account for a full rundown of the proceedings.

• According to Weaver, JGR requested Spire’s setups from the 2025 and 2026 NASCAR Cup Series seasons.

• Last week, JGR doubled down on its request for the court to compel the discovery of Spire’s competition meeting notes to if Gabehart and Spire were using the misappropriated data in competition meetings.

• According to Weaver, when JGR raised this point, Judge Keesler asked, “does this not feel very intrusive?”

• As for the setups, JGR’s attorney Chad B. Walker said the team would produce its 2025 setups if Spire produced its setups from both of the requested seasons.

• Spire has repeatedly objected to these requests, asserting that the scope of those are too broad and that some of the meeting recordings JGR requests either don’t exist or are not relevant to the specific issue at hand. It also said that producing all of these would be “expensive” and delay the trial past its Feb. 1 date.

• Additionally, Spire cited that both it and JGR have cars competing in The Chase for the Cup title and that it does not want to release setups from 2026 in the midst of those races.

• While presenting its arguments to compel discovery on Spire, JGR also launched a new allegation on Gabehart.

• According to Weaver, Walker alleged that Gabehart had access to JGR’s confidential information through June and he was using it in Spire’s setups. Gabehart has maintained that he returned all of JGR’s trade secrets and confidential information in December 2025 when a forensic examiner conducted an imaging of his devices.

• Keep in mind that Judge Rodriguez ordered a temporary restraining order against Gabehart in March as well as a preliminary injunction in April that required Gabehart to return any of JGR’s data in his possession and to cease from accessing it.

• A JGR file was found on Gabehart’s Spire laptop, and JGR says it believes he has continued to use its information. However, that file was found in the spring, and Gabehart has since not had access to his Spire laptop, as well as a company email and Spire’s servers, according to the team.

• To this point, no evidence has been presented by JGR that Spire is using the misappropriated data in its setups.

• As for Spire’s requests, its attorney Lawrence J. Cameron stated Spire wants a “definitive list” of the trade secrets in question. Cameron argued that JGR produces a different trade secret on a weekly basis. Fellow Spire attorney Trey C. Homesley said that JGR is acting like the knowledge Gabehart contains are all trade secrets.

• On a side note, some of the trade secrets that JGR has defined include the processes of sealing airboxes and ductworks, vacuum testing underbodies, and transaxle lubrication specs. One of the primary items at the core of JGR’s accusations involves a master spreadsheet created by Gabehart that tracks Spire’s race outcomes, which has been noted to be similar to an approach he used at JGR.

• Additionally, both Spire and Gabehart have sought contractual agreements between JGR and TRD, believing that it will show what confidential information actually belongs to Toyota, as well as a definition of Gabehart’s duties at JGR to compare the similarity to his role at Spire.

• Toyota responded in August, stating that the requests were “unduly burdensome” and “seek confidential or privileged information.”

• As Weaver noted, Toyota attorney James Pencook said the OEM is willing to provide a portion of the agreement, but not all of it out of protection for its own proprietary information, as well as protecting itself from costly damages.

• Since August, Toyota has asserted that it is not proportional to the case and doesn’t hold interest in the case. However, according to Weaver, Judge Kessler refuted this claim.

• Both Spire’s and Gabehart’s attorneys believe Toyota was instrumental in JGR’s pursuit of litigation. A deposition included by Weaver from Pencook’s comments includes confirmation from Joe Gibbs that he reached out to Toyota’s Tyler Gibbs, where the former informed the latter that JGR was filing the suit. However, Pencook defended by stating the JGR owner did this “as a professional courtesy.”

• Last week, Hendrick Motorsports got involved in the case in response to JGR’s requests for Spire’s setups. Spire possesses a technical alliance with HMS.

• As a refresher, HMS’ filing averred that granting JGR the discovery on these documents would disclose HMS’ confidential information and trade secrets, and that Spire is under a non-disclosure agreement that it cannot share any proprietary information.

• According to Weaver, C. Bailey King Jr. represented HMS at the hearing, defending the team by stating it shares its “crown jewels” with Spire. However, JGR and HMS apparently reached a settlement in recent days that saw JGR withdraw its requests for any information references to HMS’ trade secrets and confidential information.

Notable filings from this week:

• On Tuesday (Sept. 29), both Gabehart and Spire filed replied to a motion filed by JGR last week to hold the defendants in contempt of court for violating the temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction on Gabehart for alleged comments he made in two separate meetings.

• “JGR has twice asked the Court to rule that Christopher Gabehart … cannot work for Spire in essentially any capacity. The Court has twice rejected that position,” Spire opened its filing.

• Spire repeated the current status of JGR being unable to submit evidence that Gabehart transmitted the misappropriated files to Spire, saying that if he had, there would be a record through emails, texts and other file-sharing, as well as Gabehart’s presence in running meetings, calling races and communicating with drivers.

• In recollection of the court denying a temporary restraining order on Spire on two occasions, Spire pointed out that JGR believes that Gabehart cannot work at Spire in any position, which is broader to the court ruling that he cannot perform similar services to his former role at JGR. The court struck down JGR’s request in this case.

• According to Spire, Gabehart’s role is an executive position that covers series like the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, sprint cars, late models, dirt late models, IndyCar and more. He is also involved in Spire’s “manufacturing, acquisition and expansion work.”

• In contrast, Spire noted how JGR’s focus is on the Cup Series and NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series, which involved a much different portfolio for Gabehart when he was with the organization. Spire also specified that its current competition director, Matt McCall, and its three Cup crew chiefs have not seen their responsibilities.

• The primary message of Spire’s filing was that JGR has made this a personal war against Gabehart and that its leadership has a “palpable hatred” of him.

• One of the exhibits displayed by Spire was a text between Heather Gibbs and JGR competition director Wally Brown in which Gibbs stated, “Also what car does Gabehart drive I might take my dogs on a drive some nights.”

• It also included a quote from JGR president Dave Alpern in his deposition in which Alpern said Gabehart’s “presence [at Spire] is the very services he performed for Joe Gibbs Racing.”

• “It argues that Gabehart should not be able to work for Spire, speak with its employees, attend its meetings or discuss racing. JGR criticizes his executive title as a mask for Cup Series competition work, treats his mere presence at a Cup Series meeting — or even in the Spire shop — as a violation, and faults Spire for not instructing employees to avoid Cup competition discussions with him,” the filing stated.

• Spire also listed JGR’s claimed violations of Gabehart’s non-compete prior to and following the temporary restraining order issued in March.

• Among the alleged grievances prior to the order were a text chain with McCall in which Gabehart texted “up to speed ok today?” and “all is going ok?” JGR also listed Gabehart’s presence in the Spire war room at the Daytona 500 (Spire said Gabehart’s commentary occurred after the race), a discussion with Travis Peterson (Michael McDowell‘s crew chief) and a “CG Master” spreadsheet being used at EchoPark Speedway to take race notes, though Spire said a forensic examiner found it was not used or discussed in the post-race competition meeting.

• As for the post-order violations, JGR accused Gabehart of continuing to perform the same pre-order services, though Spire showed that every one of its witnesses have said Gabehart has not been involved on the Cup competition side.

• One interesting item was a text exchange between Gabehart and Carson Hocevar in which Hocevar was giving feedback on how his car handled in a race. Gabehart responded by telling him to stop talking to him about the feedback.

• JGR also focused on comments made by Gabehart in multiple meetings, though Spire combated these claims by saying they show no evidence that these comments were made for services provided to Spire.

• In Gabehart’s filing on the same day, his counsel stated that despite months of depositions from Spire employees and Gabehart, document discoveries, subpoenas and forensic examinations, JGR is resting on comments made by Gabehart to illustrate a violation of his temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction instead of “clear and convincing evidence of contempt.”

• “The evidence that JGR withholds from the Court tells the real story. Nearly a dozen Spire witnesses — crew chiefs, the technical director, the competition director, the shop foreman, the company president, and the co-owner — all testified under oath that Mr. Gabehart has not been involved in Cup Series competition strategy, race-day decisions or technical operations,” the filing stated.

• Gabehart’s counsel maintained that he has not performed any similar services for Spire’s Cup program that he did at JGR, and that the preliminary injunction permits him to perform other services for Spire.

• According to both Spire and Gabehart’s counsel, extra measures were taken to ensure that Gabehart and Spire are complying with the court’s order.

• First, Gabehart’s Spire laptop was confiscated in Feb. 27, and quarantined for forensic examination.

• Second, Gabehart’s access to Spire’s electronic systems — including his email, Microsoft Teams, OneDrive and SharePoint — was revoked on March 18.

• In May, a company-wide email was sent to employees detailing the preliminary injunction order and defining Gabehart’s role at the company.

• Additionally, in the spring, Spire co-owner Jeff Dickerson directed the team to remove Gabehart from all Cup meetings. According to Gabehart’s, he has also curtailed his attendance at Cup races.

• In more specific detail of Gabehart’s role at Spire, his counsel said he has been working on Spire’s NTT IndyCar Series program with Andretti Global and TWG Motorsports. Gabehart has also been working to standardize communications for Spire’s Truck team, as well as help it identify how it can improve. Furthermore, he has assisted the team’s business ventures by providing guidance on how to handle customer accounts and the potential acquisition of a body-hanging business.

• Gabehart’s counsel echoed that he has not shared JGR’s confidential information with Spire.