Trial Date Set for Lawsuit Between NASCAR Cup Series Teams

What’s Happening?

The lawsuit between Spire Motorsports, with its Chief Motorsports Officer Chris Gabehart, and Joe Gibbs Racing finally has a trial date.

• The trial between the parties will kick off on February 1, 2027, nearly a year after JGR filed its initial lawsuit against Gabehart. Previously, the two parties disagreed on a timeline for the trial, with JGR wanting mid-November and Spire wanting to push to 2027.
• In an April filing, JGR said it expected the trial to go five days, but now that number is trending upward toward nine days. This, of course, walks a tight line between the end of the 2026-2027 offseason, with the first confirmed race date of next season being the Daytona 500 on February 21, 2027.
• JGR initially filed its lawsuit in February, claiming that Gabehart, its former Competition Director, left the team with trade secrets and proprietary data. Gabehart and Spire, who were later added as co-defendants, have refuted these claims.
• Another side story of this lawsuit is Gabehart’s current position at Spire. Though Spire claims it is not similar to his previous post at JGR, and therefore not a violation of a non-compete clause in his prior contract, JGR believes that it is a violation.

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