Lawsuit Update: Gabehart Calls JGR Competition Team “Dysfunctional,” Ty Gibbs “Not Accountable”
What’s Happening? Former Joe Gibbs Racing Crew Chief and Competition Director Chris Gabehart has filed a new response slamming JGR as…
While the Spire Motorsports Cup Series team has understandably gotten a lot of publicity this Silly Season, their potential Truck Series efforts have not. Bob Pockrass of Fox Sports originally reported when Spire bought Kyle Busch Motorsports that Spire was expected to field three full-time Truck Series teams in 2024. So, how do they go about it, and who drives for them in 2024?
Spire Motorsports currently runs a part-time Truck in the series. Obviously, there are benefits to driving part-time in the series. It is less of a commitment, and teams can pick and choose which races they want to race. However, it’s impossible to race for a Championship, so, some teams elect to use an All-Star car alongside one or two full-time drivers.
This allows teams to go for both the driver’s Championship, while also having that extra car to rack up owner’s points. The Owner’s points are what the teams themselves get paid out at the end of the season after all. Having three cars in the Owner’s Championship helps with postseason payouts to race teams, and it allows teams to put specialists into cars for road course races, superspeedway races, and the like.
That is the choice Spire has if they do expand to a three-car race team in the Truck Series. Do they choose to run three full-time drivers, or do they choose instead to run at least one truck as an “All-Star Truck” However, that still means they have at least two cars to fill.
Chase Purdy
Chase Purdy signed an extension with KBM earlier this year to race for the team at least through 2024. It seems pretty likely that Purdy will join Spire as they take over following the season. He has a contract with KBM, so it would make sense that he comes with the package. However, there has been no official announcement that he is coming back, so, maybe things will change.
Nick Sanchez?
Nick Sanchez drives for Rev Racing, which is affiliated with KBM. Sanchez made the Truck Series Playoffs this year, and he had some impressive runs with 11 top-10 finishes despite not winning a race. Maybe Sanchez will stick with Rev Racing for 2024 if that alliance remains intact, or, Spire chooses to bring him into the fold full-time. Regardless, it will be interesting to see how Sanchez fits onto the grid for 2024.
Derek Kraus
Derek Kraus is running his second race of the season for Spire Motorsports in the Truck Series this weekend at Phoenix Raceway in the season finale. The interesting thing is that he is not driving the 7 car, rather, he will drive a second car numbered 77. This absolutely could be Spire preparing to expand for 2024, and Kraus has yet to announce his 2024 plans. He has some solid finishes in a part-time ride for Kaulig, so, if Kaulig does not come calling, Spire may be his next best option.
Marco Andretti
Marco Andretti is running his third Truck Series race of the season for Spire this weekend in the 7 car. He has not completely ruled out joining NASCAR full-time, and Gainbridge is a major partner of Andretti Autosport. This may be slightly less likely than Kraus because Andretti’s goals are not quite known, but it would be interesting.
Rajah Caruth
Rajah Caruth has yet to announce his 2024 plans, and he is an interesting prospect. He has shown flashes, but he has yet to win a race in the Truck Series. It’s possible he may have places in the Xfinity Series for him as well, but, he will be racing the HendrickCars.com car at Phoenix in the Xfinity Series this weekend. That is a sponsor of the Spire 7 truck. The connections are there.
What will Spire Motorsports’ Truck Series team look like for 2024? It could be as interesting to watch out for as their Cup Series team.
An email sent by former Joe Gibbs Racing Competition Director Chris Gabehart claims that resentment towards him from members of the Gibbs family made him feel that the future of JGR was a “no-win situation.”
Last week, Joe Gibbs Racing filed a lawsuit against former Crew Chief and Competition Director Chris Gabehart, claiming that the former Daytona 500 Champion had schemed to steal vital information from the team in the lead-up to his departure from JGR for Spire Motorsports.
Not even ten days since JGR filed this lawsuit, the two have continued to trade barbs and accusations back and forth through the court system.
In a filing earlier this week, Gabehart accused the team of misleading him in his duties as competition director in 2025, and specifically calling out JGR’s No. 54 team, driven by Joe Gibbs’ grandson Ty, alleging that the team received “differential treatment.”
Friday, an email sent to JGR CFO Tim Carmichael by Gabehart in November 2025 (released as part of this lawsuit) showed just how uncomfortable he had grown working at JGR during his tenure as Competition Director, with the industry veteran stating that Ty Gibbs and his mother, Heather, held “resentment” towards Gabehart.
The now former Competition Director went on to say in this email that, as the two were the future bosses of JGR, “I’m afraid that leaves me in a no-win situation.”
These exchanges, including the claims made by Gibbs in his filing earlier this week, have swept fans into a whirlwind of sorts, with the two sides even meeting in court today for the lawsuit’s first official hearing.
Of course, Gabehart’s claims about the state of operations at JGR pale in comparison to the accusations made by the Gibbs team in their initial lawsuit.
On Tuesday, the team even added Spire Motorsports, Gabehart’s current employer, as a co-defendant, and requested the court force Gabehart to sit out at least the 18 months since his termination before doing any work in NASCAR similar to his role at JGR.
The team is also asking that any information procured by Spire from Gabehart be returned, though the CEO of TWG Motorsports, which owns Spire, Dan Towriss, told Bob Pockrass of FOX Sports Friday that “Spire doesn’t want data from Joe Gibbs Racing. It doesn’t have data from Joe Gibbs Racing. No point in time has it had data from Joe Gibbs Racing.”
Alongside Spire, Gabehart adamantly denied any wrongdoing in a post to social media last week, saying, “I feel compelled to speak out today and forcefully and emphatically deny these frivolous and retaliatory claims.”
What’s Happening? Former Joe Gibbs Racing Crew Chief and Competition Director Chris Gabehart has filed a new response slamming JGR as…
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A few years ago, I looked at the racetracks preserved on iRacing that no longer exist in real life. After digging deeper, I expected to find one common reason they all shut down. Instead, each one tells a completely different story — from booming cities and land value spikes to ownership changes, broken promises, and even mysteries that still don’t have clear answers.
Some tracks were pushed out by urban development. Some lost the one person fighting to keep them alive. Others faded due to declining support — or were never meant to last forever in the first place. No two closures are the same, and that’s what makes this deep dive so fascinating.
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NASCAR’s documentary series “Full Speed,” which used to live on Netflix, had its first two seasons look back at entire playoff runs. But now, NASCAR is shifting the series to Amazon Prime Video for its third season, and the scope of the series will also shift to new storylines.
Dropping on March 5, the new season is aimed at zooming in on one event: the 2026 Daytona 500. Instead of a multi-episode run, this time it’s a single-episode documentary that goes all in on one race.
The film will follow big names and storylines from the Daytona 500. It will spotlight the winner, Tyler Reddick, and lean into driver storylines around the weekend. That includes Kyle Busch trying to get his groove back, Brad Keselowski clawing his way back after a broken leg, Connor Zilisch being pushed as the next big thing, and Noah Gragson bringing chaos wherever he goes.
Some fans might question the move away from Netflix, especially after Season 1 pulled in 3.4 million views in the first half of 2024. Then in 2025, the docuseries clocked 900,000 views after its early May release and added another 200,000 between July and December.
But with Prime Video stepping in as one of NASCAR’s broadcast partners, moving the series lines up with a bigger play to keep content under one roof.
Amazon has already dipped into NASCAR storytelling with projects like the docuseries Earnhardt about Dale Earnhardt. Moving Full Speed to Prime follows the same playbook. And for fans who still haven’t seen previous installments, the first two seasons are also heading over to Prime Video.
However, Reddit fans are divided in their opinions about the decision. Some fans actually get why NASCAR changed the format and platform, while a chunk of fans think leaving Netflix is risky because Netflix is where casual viewers stumble into shows. Others push back, pointing out that Prime actually has a massive reach in the U.S. and strong marketing muscle.
While one fan commented, “Makes sense. I highly doubt they were gonna make a new season around a points format they don’t use anymore,” another stated, “Idk the semantics and numbers and everything behind it so I’m probably talking out of my ass….buttttttt….at what point does nascar take the less money for the exposure. You need to be on Netflix, people watch Netflix. People don’t watch Amazon video as much. Who’s gonna watch this that isn’t a nascar fan already. You have a higher chance of getting people lost on Netflix than lost on Amazon Prime Video.”
One fan commented on the news, saying, “100%. I have Amazon Prime and Netflix. AP is a train wreck for videos especially now with their ad program with videos. I steer clear because Netflix is still ad free.” Another fan supported NASCAR’s move, saying, “Prime actually has slightly more subscribers in the USA and in my opinion is better at marketing. It’s a lateral move.”
Another backed NASCAR, stating, “Most NASCAR fans will find some way to be on prime in the month of June. I think they are counting on people watching it then if they have not already seen it. Similar to the Earnhardt documentary that dropped in June last year.”
Another fan comment implied something less glamorous yet very real, pointing out that the Netflix seasons didn’t see a surge in viewership. The first season did okay, but later numbers dipped: “Netflix didn’t seem to work that well for the 2 playoff seasons.”
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