JGR Lawsuit: Spire Informant Tells Gibbs That Gabehart Allegedly Violated Agreement

What’s Happening?

A new court filing from Joe Gibbs Racing claims that, per a Spire Motorsports employee, former JGR Competition Director Chris Gabehart has allegedly violated a ruling surrounding his role at Spire.

Joe Gibbs Racing's second amended complaint, which Judge Rodriguez permitted last week, has a new claim that allegeds a Spire employee has informed a JGR employee that Chris Gabehart is leading/participating in Spire's comp. process in a way that violates his JGR non-compete. pic.twitter.com/5cVY6coyHR

— Matt Weaver (@MattWeaverRA) June 15, 2026

While Joe Gibbs Racing’s hot streak on the track rolls into a potential four-peat this weekend, the team is still working on its lawsuit against Spire Motorsports and JGR’s former Competition Director Chris Gabehart.

Per a noncompete clause in Gabehart’s JGR contract, he would not be able to perform “services for Spire similar to those he provided to JGR” for the 18 months following his exit from the team.

In March, the court said that Gabehart can maintain his new position at Spire, as long as his duties are not similar to those he held as Competition Director at JGR. For the most part, JGR agreed with this ruling at the time, though throughout their lawsuit, JGR has repeatedly attempted to prove that Gabehart is violating this rule.

These efforts have included photos of Gabehart at the track to show that he is involved in the competition side at Spire, and claims that his new title is a form of deception that hides his true duties within Spire, a claim the Chevrolet team denies.

In late April, a North Carolina judge ruled that Gabehart, who now works at Spire as its Chief Motorsports Officer, can continue to attend races as a Spire representative, with the caveat that he cannot perform competition duties for the team similar to those he performed for JGR.

Monday, in a new court filing (an amended complaint, which revised JGR’s lawsuit), JGR claimed that, per an employee at Spire, Gabehart is, in fact, participating in and, at times, leading competition meetings.

The team further alleged that employees at Spire were “instructed not to discuss the fact Gabehart is leading and/or participating in Spire’s competition and strategy decision-making process outside of Spire.”

“A Spire employee has informed a JGR employee that Gabehart is in charge of and/or significantly participating in Spire’s competition strategy and decisions. Employees were instructed not to discuss the fact Gabehart is leading and/or participating in Spire’s competition and strategy decision making process outside of Spire.”

The Lawsuit So Far

The lawsuit between JGR and Spire/Gabehart initially involved only JGR and its former Competition Director.

In their first filing in late February, Gibbs claimed that Gabehart had orchestrated a plan to leave the team in possession of Confidential Information and Trade Secrets.

Shortly thereafter, JGR added Spire to the lawsuit, alleging foul play on its part. They expanded on this in Monday’s filing, claiming that Gabehart visited Spire’s facilities in December and January, which also violated his noncompete clause.

“Upon information and belief, Spire allowed Gabehart to enter its race shop during December 2025 and January 2026 while Spire was preparing for the 2026 NASCAR season and after Spire knew of Gabehart’s noncompete, non-solicitation, and confidentiality provisions under the Agreement.”

Throughout the lawsuit, Gabehart and Spire (through its co-owner Jeff Dickerson) have maintained their innocence, with each throwing their own claims back at JGR.

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