“There is no innocent explanation for secretly accessing, reviewing, and selectively deleting an employer’s confidential files after your employment has ended and you are negotiating with a direct competitor. Gabehart’s belief that he was acting in secret is itself powerful evidence of wrongful intent.”
This is part of the basis in which Joe Gibbs Racing believes the Western District of North Carolina and Judge Susan C. Rodriguez must allow for expedited discovery on Chris Gabehart and Spire to see if proprietary competition data are being used against them right now.
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The italicized lines are all from a Friday response to Gabehart and Spire in advance of a hearing over the matter on Monday morning in Charlotte.
“The 2026 NASCAR season is well underway, and it is during the season that JGR suffers the greatest competitive harm from Defendants’ misappropriation. Race wins and points accumulated during the season determine series champions — losses in these categories cannot be remedied after the fact. Every race that Gabehart and Spire compete using JGR’s proprietary strategies and technical information inflicts irreparable harm on JGR, whether through direct competitive disadvantage or through JGR being forced to compete without knowing if its ‘secret sauce’ is being deployed against it.”
Joe Gibbs Racing and its forensic analyst previously detailed a ‘technical blunder’ in which Gabehart failed to turn of device syncing with his personal accounts before returning his company computer upon his departure.
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This is in addition to the revelation that Gabehart took pictures of JGR data using his phone after stating his intent to leave — something his attorneys have said he feels ‘embarassed’ and ‘stupid’ for.
Joe Gibbs Racing maintains it was malicious intent that may even be weaponized against them right now.
“This is the same modus operandi he employed when photographing his computer screen rather than taking screenshots—a method he used precisely because he believed it would evade detection. The inescapable inference is that Gabehart engaged in this conduct only because he thought no one would find out. There is no innocent explanation for secretly accessing, reviewing, and selectively deleting an employer’s confidential files after your employment has ended and you are negotiating with a direct competitor. Gabehart’s belief that he was acting in secret is itself powerful evidence of wrongful intent.”
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Joe Gibbs Racing has stated that Gabehart interacted with an ‘Unknown Google Drive Folder’ and theorized that proprietary data could have been stored there and that they haven’t been given access to that device.
“Perhaps tellingly, and nefariously, Gabehart chose not to let Mr. Walton (Clark, the examiner) examine the Unknown Microsoft OneDrive before litigation or disclose he accessed it while simultaneously interacting with JGR’s materials he saved in his Spire folder. Gabehart’s assertion that there is no risk of spoliation is unreliable and falls flat.”
Specifically, Joe Gibbs Racing wants expedited discovery of all pertinent devices and communications between Gabehart and Spire Motorsports co-owners Jeff Dickerson and Dan Towriss.
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For their parts, earlier in the week, the Spire parties stated they opposed expedited discovery but if Judge Rodriguez were to allow it, then they would want expedited discovery on the plaintiffs to determine when Joe Gibbs Racing considered their employment agreement with Gabehart to have been nominally concluded.
Joe Gibbs Racing’s attorneys found this overture improper.
“Defendants offer no argument or evidence of exigency or retention risk. Such requests violate Local Civil Rule 7.1(c)(2) which prohibits parties from including motions in responsive briefing. Notwithstanding that procedural inconformity, JGR agrees discovery should begin in earnest in the immediate future. All interested parties benefit if discovery occurs before the issues join—which will almost assuredly not occur until after the 2026 NASCAR seasons concludes.”
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The complete filing regarding expedited discovery can be read below.
Joe Gibbs Racing expedited discovery II by mattweavermedia
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Jeff Dickerson replies to all things Gibbs, Gabehart in legal filing
Dickerson Trade Agreement reply
Toni Rogers, Chief People Officer of Joe Gibbs Racing, included in a Friday night filing that she was unaware of an agreement with Spire for a employee trade in exchange for being able to hire veteran car chief Cheddar Smith, in the middle of his contract with Spire, upon an early release.
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Dickerson claimed earlier in the week that he let Smith out of his contract last April so he could join JGR as car chief of the JGR No. 54 in exchange for the right to similarly hire a JGR employee before their contract runs out or pay $100,000 to Spire.
Rogers shared, as an exhibit, an email with Chris Gabehar that did confirm the $100,000 figure Dickerson reference but nothing to indicate that JGR had the option to let a car chief or crew chief out of their contract to leave for Spire.
As the email says, the only trade Rogers is aware of is one regarding spotters, and one that never materialized.
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“The only potential ‘trade’ of personnel between JGR and Spire that had been discussed was a potential trade of spotters–a JGR spotter and a Spire spotter. A Competition Director, such as Gabehart, is a much higher and more valuable position than a spotter. The understanding was that if the Spire spotter joined JGR, JGR would take over his existing salary and if it was greater than what JGR had been paying the JGR spotter, that differential would be offset against the $100,000.00. Ultimately, that trade never happened as the Spire spotter chose not to leave Spire. To my knowledge, JGR has never received an invoice for the referenced payment of $100,000.00.
“The potential trade described in the foregoing paragraph is the only potential trade of personnel between JGR and Spire that I have ever heard of. I have certainly never been aware of any sort of open-ended agreement with Spire that would allow Spire to hire someone who was under contractual obligations to JGR. As JGR’s Chief People Officer, I would have been aware of any such agreement that came to fruition. Had any such deal been contemplated or offered, there would have been a formal written release similar to that executed between Cheddar and Spire. There has been no such release with respect to Gabehart.”
JGR wants Gabehart out of Spire’s NASCAR operations
Another item to be discussed in court on Monday morning, and one that all three parties have volleyed back-and-forth throughout the past month, is the preliminary injunction motion.
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Joe Gibbs Racing wants Gabehart to cease working at Spire Motorsports in any capacity that is like the one he had as competition director over the past year. Gabehart is officially working at Spire currently as ‘Chief Motorsports Officer’ with duties that extend beyond Cup and into the organization’s other racing offerings like Super Late Models, Sprint Cars and even adjacent duties with sister teams in IndyCar and Formula 1.
Gabehart says his contract featured just a one week non-compete and Dickerson testified to that conviction in his own declaration earlier this week. However, Joe Gibbs Racing maintains that’s not even true.
“Contrary to Gabehart’s argument, Gabehart’s noncompete period was never reduced to one week under Section 6, paragraph 2 of the Agreement (“Section 6”) because he failed to satisfy multiple material conditions. Section 6 requires a three-step procedure: (1) notice of specific duties assigned by JGR that were inconsistent with Gabehart’s expectations; (2) 60 days for JGR to cure; and (3) 60-day notice of termination without cause. Gabehart fails the first step—he sought more responsibilities, not relief from duties JGR assigned.”
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JGR’s attorneys note that Gabehart’s contract required those notices to be made ‘in good faith’ and that that requirement was ignored. And JGR also again brought up its conviction that Gabehart was already ‘engaged in detailed discussions about employment with Spire’ as early as October through a meeting with Towriss.
It’s a meeting that Towriss does not recall and Gabehart says was mischaracterized by JGR employee Todd Berrier.
Joe Gibbs Racing says Gabehart never gave them 60 days and simply told team owner Coach Joe Gibbs that the relationship was beyond repair in a personal meeting after the season ended in early November.
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Separate from all of this is the conviction that Joe Gibbs Racing has that Gabehart was simultaneously, at this point, accessing and storing proprietary information that could be currently being used against them now.
Joe Gibbs Racing disagrees with the characterization that it stopped paying Gabehart and then he left. They say that they stopped paying Gabehart upon the conviction that he was conspiring with Spire.
“Defendants claim that Gabehart was relieved of his noncompete because JGR stopped paying his salary after his last day of work. This contention is without merit. The Agreement
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plainly states Gabehart’s ‘Base Salary’ was payment for ‘the services Employee provides the Company.’ Gabehart’s ‘prior material breach’ defense rests on the untenable premise that JGR was obligated to pay him a salary while he performed no services for JGR and instead actively worked to benefit its competitor, Spire. This common-sense proposition—that an employee is only paid for services provided—is echoed in state and federal law.
“JGR complied with the Agreement by making payment for all time worked by Gabehart through November 10, 2025 on the regularly scheduled November 21, 2025 payroll. Gabehart does not argue that he provided any services to JGR after November 10, 2025. By then, Gabehart had returned his JGR computer and had engaged in ‘discussions towards a mutually agreeable separation framework[.]’ Instead, Gabehart has admitted to using the time after November 10, 2025, to negotiate employment with Spire. He further used the time to wrongly and continuously access the information he stole from JGR. These are not services provided to JGR.”
Stated plainly, and they have said this in as many words in court, Joe Gibbs Racing is saying they were not going to pay Chris Gabehart so he could continue stealing their data and potentially take it to a rival organization.
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Gabehart says JGR was in breach of their contract together because end of the year bonus monies were not paid out. JGR says that money was due by January 2, but by that point, Gabehart’s alleged conduct was discovered.
Gabehart paid for a portion of the forensic analysis of his devices by Joe Gibbs Racing and some of the bonus money was used to pay for that and a extra hotel room from Phoenix in January as agreed upon by both parties’ legal teams.
From the JGR filing:
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“Payment of this bonus, while the parties were actively involved in negotiations regarding Gabehart’s admitted taking of JGR’s information and how the bonus would be amended to address part of the forensic payment, is not a material breach going to the heart of the Agreement. To the contrary, if any party was in breach of the Agreement by January 2, 2026, it was Gabehart through his misappropriation of JGR’s Confidential Information and Trade Secrets and his cessation of services on November 10, 2025.”
So again, JGR wants Gabehart split from Spire’s NASCAR duties:
“Gabehart’s actual misappropriation of JGR’s Confidential Information and Trade Secrets has been established. It is undisputed that he took photos of his computer screen with his cell phone and saved more than 200 JGR proprietary files in a folder named ‘Spire.’ This is sufficient to support a preliminary injunction as to Gabehart.
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“There is likewise substantial evidence of an ongoing and future threat of misappropriation of JGR’s trade secrets by both Gabehart and Spire. ‘It is well-settled under North Carolina law, ‘[d]irect evidence [ … ] is not necessary to establish a claim for misappropriation of trade secrets; rather, such a claim may be proven through circumstantial evidence.’ After returning his JGR laptop on November 10, 2025, Gabehart continued accessing and deleting JGR files through December—conduct only discoverable because of his ‘technical blunder’ in failing to disable cloud syncing before returning the computer. Like photographing his screen rather than taking screenshots, Gabehart clearly believed these actions would evade detection. The fact that he engaged in this conduct only because he thought it was undetectable is itself powerful evidence of wrongful intent, and of the ongoing threat of misappropriation. Further, the circumstantial evidence demonstrates more than a possibility of ongoing or future trade secret misappropriation as to Gabehart and Spire.”
Joe Gibbs Racing stated that Gabehart is free to work anywhere in motorsports, that isn’t for the Spire Cup Series team, and could even work for NASCAR. It says he can work for Spire’s Super Late Model or Sprint Car teams, or its sister IndyCar and Formula 1 teams, but wants an injunction to prevent him from damaging JGR in NASCAR.
The complete filing can be viewed below, as can the full declaration from Toni Rogers.
JGR Spire Gabehart injunction response response by mattweavermedia
3 14 Rogers’ Declaration by mattweavermedia
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