CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Joe Gibbs Racing accused rival NASCAR team Spire Motorsports of cheating by hiring its former competition director and using stolen intellectual property to improve its organization.
The accusation was made in federal court Thursday in JGR’s pursuit to prevent Chris Gabehart from working for Spire. The racing organization founded by NFL Hall of Fame coach Joe Gibbs is suing Gabehart and Spire in the Western District of North Carolina alleging Gabehart illegally took JGR data to Spire to make himself a more valuable employee.
Gibbs, who won three Super Bowls as coach of Washington’s football team, was in court Thursday alongside his daughter-in-law, Heather, who is co-owner of the race team.
Tom Melsheimer, attorney for JGR, alleged Thursday that Spire was motivated to improve after scoring just one Cup Series victory since its 2018 inception. JGR is one of NASCAR’s winningest organizations. Melsheimer noted that Spire has conceded 2025 was a disappointing season.
“One win gives them a motive to take short cuts, hire Gabehart and we think its cheating,” Melsheimer said. “Being behind gives them a motive as a struggling company seeking to gain an unfair advantage.”
Gabehart has admitted to photographing some data while still employed at JGR but denies sharing it with anyone. Spire has vehemently denied receiving any data from Gabehart and JGR has yet to provide evidence to support its claim that Spire is in possession of or using stolen information.
Melsheimer said outside court that JGR presented all the evidence it has Thursday. Spire attorney Lawrence Cameron said JGR has offered no proof to substantiate its allegations.
“JGR alleged that he had stolen their ‘secret sauce.’ They specifically said that Spire knew of and encouraged stealing of JGR’s secret sauce. … there just is no evidence,” Cameron said.
U.S. District Judge Susan C. Rodriguez heard nearly four hours of arguments Thursday as JGR seeks an injunction to prevent Gabehart from working at Spire as its chief motorsports officer. She then took about 30 minutes to consider a ruling before deciding she needs more time.
“I’m going to take this under advisement and dig my teeth into this, it’s really important to the court to get this right,” she said while noting that livelihoods are at stake. She extended until April 9 the temporary restraining order that Gabehart is currently under that prevents him from performing any of the duties he did for Gibbs at Spire.
The case is multi-layered in that Gabehart contends he was misled about his job responsibilities when promoted to competition director. He maintains his employment at Gibbs became untenable because of a frayed relationship with Gibbs’ grandson, Ty, who drives for the organization.
Gabehart and Gibbs began working on a separation agreement shortly after the 2025 season ended in November. It was during that period when Gabehart photographed data and created file folders labeled “Spire” and “Past Setups.”
He says the folders were for his own evaluation of whether or not to join Spire. His attorney on Thursday acknowledged Gabehart “screwed up” in photographing the data, but described Gabehart’s spreadsheets and documents as “just what he does; he’s a racing nerd, an engineer from Purdue.”
JGR during separation negotiations discovered Gabehart had improperly accessed data and hired a private investigator to catch Gabehart having lunch with Spire co-owner Jeff Dickerson in December. Another image was shown in court Thursday of Gabehart sitting in the grandstands during Sunday’s race at Darlington Raceway.
JGR last paid Gabehart on Nov. 10 of last year, three days after he photographed data. He was eventually paid a performance-based bonus but his regular paychecks were halted, which Gabehart interpreted as a breach of contract that allowed him to join Spire.
JGR maintains Gabehart was terminated for cause on Feb. 9 and is under an 18-month non-compete clause prohibiting him from working for another NASCAR team. Gabehart and Spire believe the non-compete is moot because Gibbs stopped paying Gabehart three months earlier.
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