Gabehart, Spire fire back at Gibbs discovery request

In filings made Wednesday night to the Western District of North Carolina, Chris Gabehart has asked that Joe Gibbs Racing’s request for expedited discovery be denied because it is “unnecessary, premature and seeks to circumvent” the process.

Gabehart contends that Joe Gibbs Racing already has the information it’s claiming to need from the forensic investigation of his electronic devices. Additionally, he claims that they have since learned that Gabehart was deleting things “involving files” that Gibbs cannot identify but were known to its forensic examiner three months ago.

“JGR should not be permitted to bypass these fundamental procedural protections simply because it is dissatisfied with the results of its own forensic examination,” said Gabehart’s brief. “This case should proceed according to the standard discovery timeline established by the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and this Court’s scheduling order.”

Joe Gibbs Racing made its request for expedited delivery in early March. It then filed additional evidence with the court March 6, claiming that certain files had been deleted from Gabehart’s personal Google Drive.

Gibbs is suing Gabehart over claims of stolen information. It was described as a “brazen scheme” in the lawsuit filed Feb. 19. Spire Motorsports, where Gabehart now works as chief motorsports officer, was added to the complaint because it’s alleged Gabehart shared the stolen confidential information with the team.

Gabehart calls the new alleged evidence speculative as Gibbs does not know what the files that it listed contained. Furthermore, “JGR’s entire lawsuit – and this Motion for Expedited Discovery – is built on speculation, not evidence. JGR has not presented any evidence that Mr. Gabehart transmitted, distributed or shared JGR’s Confidential Information. JGR has not presented any evidence that Spire received any such information. JGR has not presented any evidence that its Confidential Information has been used by either Defendant.”

If the Court rules for the expedited discovery, Gabehart has asked that it be made reciprocal. Gabehart will then seek internal communications from Joe Gibbs Racing regarding his right to exercise his contractual rights, the wages they withheld, and the decision to terminate him for cause after the forensic examination was completed.

In its brief filed in opposition to the request for expedited discovery, Spire Motorsport said that Joe Gibbs Racing does not show the harm that would come if discovery were done during the normal course of litigation. Spire Motorsports then also asked for reciprocal discovery and that it would seek non-privileged documents regarding the noncompete provision in Gabehart’s contract and whether it was applicable at the time he was hired by their organization.

Also included in Wednesday night filings were multiple declarations on behalf of Gabehart and Spire Motorsports. Included were team owners Jeff Dickerson and Dan Towriss, as well as team president Bill Anthony. Towriss and Anthony were short declarations, refuting previous statements made from the Gibbs side.

Dickerson explains that he and Gabehart have known each other since 2009 and that he worked hard to recruit him to Kyle Busch Motorsports. Since that time, the two have stayed in contact through phone calls, informal meetings and meals to catch up on life and work.

He would go on to lay out that Spire Motorsports and Joe Gibbs Racing worked a trade where Robert “Cheddar” Smith. Gibbs was allegedly recruiting Smith despite a noncompete clause in Smith's contract. Dickerson admitted he was “torn” on releasing Smith or “doing the right thing” for Gibbs, Smith and Spire.

It ended up with the two sides working out a trade agreement. Smith went to Gibbs, and Spire was to get an employee in return. Gabehart’s role in the trade included that Gibbs could fulfill the agreement by making a $100,000 payment, rather than losing an employee.

Said Dickerson, “In late June 2025, after JGR reassigned Mr. Gabehart as the crew chief of the No. 54 car, I asked JGR whether it would be willing to release the prior crew chief for the No. 54 car from his contract so that Spire could potentially hire him. A couple of months after that request was rejected, I also asked JGR whether it would be willing to release the car chief whom Mr. Smith replaced from his contract so that Spire could potentially hire him. JGR rejected each of those requests.”

Gibbs never held up its side of the trade or paid the $100,000, according to Dickerson. And then, in addressing the photos from the private investigator that Gibbs hired to follow Gabehart, which showed he met with Dickerson, the latter wrote that “I was surprised and, quite frankly, disturbed to learn that a competitor in our industry had hired someone to follow its former employee around. I cannot stress this enough: It is extraordinary for an organization in our business to hire a private investigator to follow any employee, let alone a former employee.”

Dickerson went on to stress that Spire Motorsports does not have, and does not want, Gibbs’ information, as it is aligned with Hendrick Motorsports. Gabehart was hired by Spire Motorsports in February with his start date set for Feb. 9, but his start date was delayed due to negotiations of his agreement and therefore, he started Feb. 16.

“It appears to me that JGR has intentionally staged this litigation to interfere with Spire’s legitimate business operations and to disrupt Spire’s motorsports teams mid-season,” said Dickerson. “Rather than taking the opportunity that Spire offered to allow for a forensic inspection of Spire’s systems, JGR chose to run to court, long after it knew what Mr. Gabehart had done, long after a digital forensics examiner found no hint of Mr. Gabehart sharing or distributing any trade secrets to Spire, and long after it knew that Mr. Gabehart was pursuing employment with Spire.

“JGR’s repeated attacks on Spire’s integrity are not taken well. … JGR’s loss of talent and potential loss of sponsorships is an internal problem, not a Spire problem. That is a difficult proposition for JGR to accept. Ultimately, JGR lost a star employee because it could not deliver him the workplace experience and role that he desired.”