In a Wednesday evening authorized submitting, Joe Gibbs Racing says Chris Gabehart was not in a position to solely adjust to the expedited discovery order issued by the Western District of North Carolina as a consequence of textual content messages he deleted previous to the lawsuit introduced in opposition to him.
Moreover, JGR believes it has been in a position to assemble a story that reveals its former competitors director ‘instantly operationalized’ commerce secrets and techniques for the use at Spire Motorsports whereas beneath a restrictive covenant.
In italics under is language taken straight from the Joe Gibbs Racing submitting:
“That proof reveals Gabehart didn’t merely take JGR’s commerce secrets and techniques—he instantly operationalized them for Spire’s profit, creating an in depth ‘Focus Plan’ referencing the very classes of misappropriated supplies, replicating JGR’s proprietary analytics instruments for Spire’s use, and apparently actively taking part in Spire’s NASCAR race-day operations whereas nonetheless topic to his restrictive covenant.
“Equally troubling, Gabehart has now admitted the deletion of an unknown variety of responsive textual content messages with Spire’s co-owner, Jeff Dickerson— communications deleted within the days instantly following his misappropriation—depriving JGR of important proof and warranting an antagonistic inference that the deleted messages would have additional implicated each Defendants within the joint misappropriation of JGR’s commerce secrets and techniques. In brief, the cumulative document amply justifies broad injunctive reduction—coupled with court-ordered monitoring—can defend JGR from the ‘menace’ of irreparable hurt that continues to unfold.”
Particularly, Joe Gibbs Racing is asking the court docket to mandate that Spire and Gabehart element precisely what he’s doing in his position as Chief Motorsports Officer to be able to show that they’re at present in compliance with a slender non permanent restraining order.
That TRO permits Gabehart to be employed by Spire, however not conduct any enterprise by which there can be overlap in his earlier duties as JGR competitors director. Joe Gibbs Racing additionally continues to contend that Gabehart principally by no means stop in a means that may allow a one-week non-compete clause.
For his half, Gabehart says JGR was in violation of their contract collectively when it stopped paying him. JGR says it stopped paying him upon the conviction that Gabehart was a threat for sharing its protected commerce secrets and techniques with Spire Motorsports.
General, and this shall be debated in entrance of Choose Susan C. Rodriguez on Thursday, Joe Gibbs Racing is in search of over $8 million in damages from Gabehart and Spire and can be in search of a preliminary injunction order that may cease them from working collectively instantly.
Joe Gibbs Racing has additionally now formally requested the court docket for an expedited schedule to succeed in discovery and a trial sooner as to type this out earlier than the tip of the 2026 Cup Sequence season.
Deleted texts
For a lot of this litigation course of over the previous month, Joe Gibbs Racing has challenged the credibility of Gabehart by way of authorized responses that proprietary information was not given to Spire as a part of his hiring at Spire.
JGR says the deleted messages add to that narrative.
“In response to JGR’s expedited discovery requests, Gabehart admitted that he deleted ‘textual content messages with Mr. Dickerson, the Spire co-owner, previous to November 15, 2025,’ rendering them ‘not out there presently.’ The timing of this deletion is telling. Gabehart deleted these communications the week after misappropriating JGR’s commerce secrets and techniques on November 7, 2025 — and he accessed his ‘Spire’ Google Drive folder on that exact same day, November 15. This sequence of occasions — misappropriation, adopted days later by handbook and selective deletion of communications with the co-owner of the very firm to which the stolen data would have such worth— justifies JGR’s request for an injunction to guard in opposition to threatened misappropriation, a declare acknowledged beneath each federal and North Carolina commerce secret regulation.”
Based on the submitting, Gabehart conceded that ‘at the least a type of texts can be responsive’ to the subject material as ordered by Choose Rodriguez final week. Gabehart mentioned he deleted the texts ‘as a result of there was no menace of litigation on the time.’
As a part of discovery, JGR procured textual content messages between Gabehart and Dickerson from November 18 discussing the potential of a lawsuit. In different phrases, Gabehart appears to recommend a probability that his conduct might grow to be a authorized matter across the similar time.
From the submitting:
“Right here, the surviving texts present that, by at the least November 18, 2025—contemporaneous with the November 15 deletion—each Gabehart and Dickerson have been discussing a possible lawsuit, rendering litigation fairly foreseeable by each defendants. GABEHART00047 (mentioning “settlement talks” and a “[l]awsuit”). As such, he both anticipated his actions would finally be found and deleted the messages to eradicate proof central to the dispute—the essence of spoliation, or he believed he might keep away from being caught and deleted them as a part of a scheme to cut back the probability of publicity. In both situation, he can not now invoke the ensuing evidentiary void as a defend.”
JGR says it obtained no harmless clarification from Gabehart, particularly when paired together with his determination on November 7 to {photograph} commerce secrets and techniques from a JGR laptop onto his private cellphone.
The Gibbs crew mentioned Gabehart additionally had motive to imagine that JGR would reply to commerce theft as a consequence of a 2024 incident by which engineer Jeff Curtis was accused of taking commerce secrets and techniques to Richard Childress Racing.
These causes, as detailed in a declaration written by JGR competitors director Wally Brown, as at present redacted and sealed from public consumption.
All informed, JGR says it was not in a position to adequately uncover Gabehart to its satisfaction based mostly on the order issued by the choose final week. It has requested Gabehart to show over further paperwork or communications, however these efforts have been met with a response from their authorized crew that they have been client-attorney privileged.
The choose additionally solely allowed expedited discovery in opposition to Gabehart and never Spire executives like Dickerson, co-owner Dan Towriss or president Invoice Anthony.
“Gabehart’s destruction of proof has considerably impaired JGR’s skill to find out whether or not and the extent to which JGR’s confidential data was transmitted to Spire upfront of the listening to on JGR’s Movement for Preliminary Injunction. As a result of expedited discovery was restricted to Gabehart alone, JGR has had no skill to acquire corresponding paperwork from Spire to fill the gaps that Gabehart’s spoliation has created. As JGR’s forensic examiner attested, the forensic evaluate couldn’t exclude the chance that JGR data was shared by way of deleted textual content messages, web-based e-mail portals, Google Photographs, or different file-sharing platforms.”
That is half and parcel to why JGR needs an expedited path to trial so it could additionally reached the conventional discovery course of sooner too and attain a decision earlier than the tip of the season to attenuate any harm probably being completed to them.
Additionally, JGR believes the deleted texts have been deleted for a really particular authorized goal.
“Gabehart’s deliberate destruction of proof each factually and legally warrants an antagonistic inference that the deleted communications have been damaging to each him and Spire.”
Alleged misconduct
Joe Gibbs Racing says Gabehart started to create a technique plan for Spire inside 15 days of ceasing his duties for JGR and receiving a proposal from Spire.
That focus plan, which is at present beneath public seal, is in a textual content message titled GABEHART00092.
“That doc features as a roadmap for leveraging JGR’s confidential data, expressly referencing particular classes of paperwork Gabehart misappropriated from JGR, together with setup procedures, CC (Crew Chief) audits, driver debriefs, and efficiency analytics.”
In his redacted declaration, Wally Brown says that plan ‘displays extremely delicate commerce secrets and techniques’ that JGR developed over years of expertise and information assortment. Then, come January, JGR accuses him of implementing that commerce information.
“In January 2026, Gabehart then created a Spire spreadsheet that intently replicates JGR’s proprietary race-performance analytics instrument.”
JGR says that spreadsheet has Spire utilizing JGR terminology and approaches and did so by the season opening Daytona 500.
“The resemblance just isn’t coincidental; it displays the direct migration of JGR’s trade-secret framework to Spire—conferring a direct aggressive benefit to Spire that’s grounded in stolen data. Put merely, JGR “finds itself within the place of a coach, considered one of whose gamers has left, playbook in hand, to affix the opposing crew earlier than the large recreation.”
The timeline was beforehand established however Joe Gibbs Racing once more maintains, by way of longtime engineer and crew chief Todd Berrier, that Gabehart was speaking with Towriss as early as October.
Gabehart denies that.
Joe Gibbs Racing is now accusing Gabehart of working ‘compensation projections’ for Spire in a file known as ‘My Lower’ as represented in sealed found textual content message GABEHART00029.
Spire has mentioned that Gabehart’s official begin day was February 17 however found emails between himself and Invoice Anthony had them discussing organizational circulation charts by early February 2026.
Spire has filed quite a few declarations and documentation that signifies that Gabehart signed a non-disclosure kind that stops him from sharing JGR information with Spire. Dickerson has mentioned he would not want nor need JGR information as a result of they’ve an alliance with Hendrick Motorsports.
JGR accused Spire on Wednesday of placing on a present for the general public.
“On February 11, 2026, as JGR ready to hunt emergency reduction, however earlier than this motion was filed on February 19, 2026, the expedited discovery reveals Gabehart and Spire’s co-owner exchanged textual content messages strategizing over the potential lawsuit. In these messages, Dickerson explicitly described the request for emergency reduction as signaling that ‘it’s on,’ and Gabehart later remarked that the one remaining difficulty with the employment settlement was learn how to body language referencing JGR ‘given all of this.’ This admission means that the February 16, 2026, Confidentiality and Non-Disclosure Settlement was not a bona fide safeguard, however a reactive doc swiftly assembled as soon as litigation grew to become inevitable and designed to fabricate the looks of compliance fairly than defend JGR’s pursuits.”
On indemnity
Earlier on Thursday, Spire president Invoice Anthony posted a declaration that claimed his crew just isn’t paying for Gabehart’s authorized charges and that doing so was by no means a part of their settlement.
On February 22, Dickerson texted Gabehart that ‘everybody (was) excited to see (Gabehart’s response)’ to the lawsuit and likewise acknowledged that Spire was ‘within the boat.’ Gabehart responded that the help meant ‘the world’ to him.
Once more, the context is difficult to completely confirm as a result of the complete dialog is redacted and beneath seal.
Joe Gibbs Racing has beforehand painted Gabehart as being beneath the monetary authorized help of Spire as a consequence of his google searches of ‘indemnity’ in November.
Protecting shut tabs
Chris Gabehart was at Darlington Raceway all weekend in each the Spire Motorsports Truck Sequence and Cup Sequence storage areas on Friday and Sunday.
Motorsport.com took discover of that as nicely.
The presence of Gabehart sitting within the stands earlier than the race drew the suspicion of Joe Gibbs Racing Vice President and Chief Industrial Officer Eric Schaffer as nicely. From his declaration:
“Mr. Gabehart is sporting a personalized two-way radio which is the gadget groups use to speak amongst crew chiefs, spotters, drivers, and presumably race engineers throughout races, together with personal channels that can not be picked up by race followers or different groups. This can be a totally different gadget from a typical public ‘scanner’ radio the place race followers can eavesdrop on some spotters and crew chiefs discuss with one another and with the drivers.
“Along with receiving this {photograph} the day after the Goodyear 400, I’ve fielded quite a few studies from people that have been within the storage space at Darlington that Mr. Gabehart was in storage space on the conclusion of the race talking with Spire Motorsports staff concerning the race behind their race haulers.”
What’s the level? From the JGR submitting:
“Gabehart’s selection to observe the race from the grandstands, fairly than from the crew suite or alongside Spire personnel—as can be anticipated given his position—additional helps the inference that he was trying to keep away from discover. His repeated attendance at and participation in race-day actions for Spire, together with in areas and communication signifies that would permit him to debate race technique in actual time, underscores the approaching menace of misappropriation of JGR’s commerce secrets and techniques given race day is precisely the context by which JGR’s competitors methods could also be employed.
Additional, Gabehart has the flexibility to convey this data in a means verbally by radio or in individual, in methods which can be just about unrecordable and undetectable. These circumstances, mixed with Gabehart’s demonstrated credibility points and former efforts to make use of JGR data for Spire’s profit, necessitate a reporting requirement to mitigate the specter of misappropriation of JGR’s commerce secrets and techniques—Gabehart can’t be merely trusted to conform.”
Nonetheless, to be truthful to the details, Gabehart was not hiding behind the haulers on Friday or Sunday after these races and was as a substitute having very public conversations in the course of the storage for the world to see, saying ‘hi there’ to anybody that mentioned hi there to him.
What subsequent?
The 2 sides will meet in court docket on Thursday morning to argue over the preliminary injunction movement by which Joe Gibbs Racing seeks to have Gabehart stop working for Spire, or for a minimal, report his each responsibility to the court docket as to make sure there is no such thing as a overlap of duties in query.
JGR now needs the court docket to expedite the trial course of.
It needs unusual Rule 26 discovery conferences and disclosures by April 2 and a trial as quickly as potential. Why?
“An expedited trial date will eliminate pointless delays in discovery and promote an environment friendly decision of the moment dispute.”
The related filings
Joe Gibbs Racing’s full Thursday submitting
Eric Schaffer’s declaration
Declaration about Gabehart’s deleted texts
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