They don’t have an official “trade season” or a draft, but drivers, crew members, and shop personnel routinely swap allegiance and teams over the course of their careers.

On February 19, Joe Gibbs Racing filed a lawsuit against former competition director Chris Gabehart for allegedly stealing trade secrets.

In the suit, JGR claims Gabehart launched “a brazen scheme to steal JGR’s most sensitive information” for the purpose of benefitting the rival team Spire Motorsports where Gabehart is currently employed.  JGR claims that Gabehart stole secrets after “his demands for additional authority were rebuffed by JGR’s owner.”  JGR further claims that Gabehart cost the company over $8 million in damages.

The Hall of Fame and three time Super Bowl coach founded Joe Gibbs Racing in 1992 after leaving the then Washington Redskins. Gibbs is also a member of the NASCAR Hall of Fame.  JGR fields four cars in the NASCAR Cup Series – the number eleven car driven by Denny Hamlin, the number 19 car driven by Chase Briscoe, the number 20 car driven by Christopher Bell, and the number 54 car driven by grandson Ty Gibbs.

Gabehart began working at JGR in 2012 as an engineer and worked his way up to crew chief where he ‘sat on the box” for Denny Hamlin’s team before  taking on the role as competition director in 2025.

After taking on the duties as competition director, JGR claims that Gabehart wanted “complete responsibility and control over all competition departments” and “carte blanche authority over all racing decisions.” – a request Gibbs denied.

According to the suit, Gabehart requested separation from JGR.

JGR states Gabehart had been meeting with Spire Motorsports prior to the request. 

JGR began a “forensic analysis of Gabehart’s team-issued laptop” where they allegedly found “folders titled “Spire” and “Past Setups” and more than a dozen images of JGR files containing confidential information and trade secrets.”

The suit also notes that they learned of Gabehart’s impending employment at Sprie Motorsports as the head of 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.

According to the suit, Gabehart knew he was committing a crime and purposely took steps to avoid detection.

In a timeline of Gabehart’s activities, the suit claims that Gabehart gave JGR the laptop on November 10 and has not worked at JGR since; received an offer from Sprie Motorsports on November 13, and met with Sprie co-owner Jeff Dickerson on December 2.  JGR claims that Gabehart said on December 4 that he “had not spoken to anyone from Spire about employment, nor had he spoken to any other potential employers.”

According to JGR, not only had Gabehart spoken to Spire, he was actively recruiting JGR employees to move to Spire.

Spire Motorsports has not made any announcements of hiring Gabehart.