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02/19 16:57 CST Joe Gibbs Racing sues ex-director Chris Gabehart, alleging a 'brazen' trade secrets theft Joe Gibbs Racing sues ex-director Chris Gabehart, alleging a 'brazen' trade secrets theft By JENNA FRYER AP Auto Racing Writer CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) --- Joe Gibbs Racing on Thursday filed suit against former competition director Chris Gabehart for allegedly embarking on "a brazen scheme to steal JGR's most sensitive information" for the benefit of rival NASCAR team Spire Motorsports. The suit filed in the Western District of North Carolina --- the same court that heard last December's antitrust suit between 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports against NASCAR --- claims Gabehart violated his contract and stole confidential team trade secrets when "his demands for additional authority were rebuffed by JGR's owner." The suit alleges Gabehart caused more than $8 million in damages to JGR. The filing did not request an injunction preventing Gabehart from working for Spire. JGR was founded by Joe Gibbs in 1992 after he won three Super Bowls as Washington's football coach. Gibbs is a member of both the Pro Football Hall of Fame and NASCAR Hall of Fame and now co-owns JGR with his daughter-in-law, Heather. The team fields Cup cars for Christopher Bell, Chase Briscoe, Ty Gibbs and Denny Hamlin. Gabehart joined JGR in 2012 as an engineer, worked his way to crew chief for Hamlin, and became competition director ahead of the 2025 season. Gabehart in that role was responsible for all competitive aspects of the race team, and as such, had access to all of JGR's proprietary information. The lawsuit claims Gabehart throughout last season wanted complete responsibility and control over all competition departments and asked Joe Gibbs in a Nov. 6, 2025, meeting for "carte blanche authority over all racing decisions." The suit said Gibbs denied the request and Gabehart said he wanted to leave the organization. In the course of negotiating a separation agreement, JGR alleges it learned Gabehart had been meeting with Spire Motorsports, which triggered the organization to do a forensic analysis of Gabehart's team-issued laptop. "The results were shocking," the suit alleges, claiming it found Google searches about Spire in October and November of last year, folders titled "Spire" and "Past Setups" and more than a dozen images of JGR files containing confidential information and trade secrets. From there, the suit alleges JGR and Gabehart squabbled over further forensic reviews and JGR attempted to impose a "cooling off period" in which Gabehart would not work for another organization. JGR alleges it learned on Feb. 11 that Gabehart plans to become the chief motorsports officer at Spire, where he would be responsible for all of Spire's racing strategy and operations. "This was new information to JGR, as Defendant previously represented to JGR... that the job offer he received from Spire was for a role in which he would not provide Spire with services similar to the services he provided JGR," the suit claims. JGR contends Gabehart knew his actions accessing JGR materials was unlawful and he took intentional steps to avoid detection and hide his digital trail. Gabehart turned in his JGR laptop on Nov. 10 and has not worked for JGR since. The lawsuit claims the offer from Spire was made to Gabehart on Nov. 13 and Gabehart met with Spire co-owner Jeff Dickerson on Dec. 2. JGR claims Gabehart told his former team on Dec. 4 he had not spoken to anyone from Spire about employment, nor had he spoken to any other potential employers. Instead, JGR claims Gabehart was actively soliciting JGR employees to move to Spire, and at least one employee has made the move. Spire has yet to announce hiring Gabehart. Cary Davis, the attorney representing Gabehart, said he could not comment on the suit. Gabehart must respond to JGR's filing in 21 days. ___ AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing

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