A North Carolina federal judge was surprised during a lengthy court hearing on Friday. Joe Gibbs Racing was pressing its case to stop former competition director Chris Gabehart from working at rival team Spire Motorsports.
The hearing, held in the Western District of North Carolina, ran much longer than anyone expected.
Judge Rodriguez admitted at one point that she was “a little flabbergasted” that nobody in the courtroom could confirm when Gabehart was actually scheduled to start his new job with Spire. She also repeatedly stressed that she wanted to handle any temporary restraining order carefully, given its impact on someone’s ability to earn a living.
Racing journalist Kelly Crandall, who was following the proceedings, posted on X that “the parties agreed to additional forensic investigation” and that “no decision from the judge on the TRO” had been reached by the time the hearing wrapped up.
Crandall also noted there was “an issue not disclosed in court that went to chambers that the judge wants parties working on this weekend.”
JGR filed suit against Gabehart last week, claiming he carried out a “brazen scheme to steal JGR’s most sensitive data” before leaving the organization to join Spire Motorsports as Chief Motorsports Officer.
The team is seeking more than $8 million in damages and wants Gabehart to be prevented from working in any similar leadership role with a competing team. Spire was added as a defendant in an amended filing on Tuesday.
Inside the courtroom, JGR’s legal team made clear what the organization wants.
According to Crandall’s reporting, “Joe Gibbs Racing argued that Gabehart being allowed to work in a similar role at Spire Motorsports, with the knowledge he has, harms their company competitively.”
JGR counsel told the court the team did not want to file the lawsuit but felt it was necessary to protect the company. Their position is that Gabehart should be sidelined under his non-compete agreement until the proprietary information he holds becomes outdated.
Gabehart’s attorneys pushed back hard. Crandall reported that his counsel countered “that you can’t give him a lobotomy,” drawing a sharp line between protecting legitimate trade secrets and simply freezing a person out of their career.
Spire’s legal team also told the court that the organization does not have any of the alleged stolen information and does not want it.
JGR did leave one door open for Gabehart.
Crandall noted that the team’s counsel said “he is free to have other roles in the sport, such as with NASCAR, the media, marketing, the private sector or elsewhere.”
JGR does not want Gabehart to sit atop the pit box or run competition operations at any rival team.
Gabehart filed his own legal response on Wednesday, arguing the lawsuit is not really about trade secrets at all but is instead about “punishing a former employee for daring to leave.” He also revealed for the first time why he walked away from JGR after 13 seasons with the organization.
In that filing, Gabehart described a dysfunctional working environment centered on managing driver Ty Gibbs, the 23-year-old grandson of team owner Joe Gibbs.
Gabehart wrote that he was “promised a COO-type role overseeing all competitive operations with autonomy to lead,” but instead found himself navigating constant interference from ownership and family members on routine competition decisions.
He said Ty Gibbs was not held to the same standards as teammates Denny Hamlin, Christopher Bell, and Chase Briscoe, and that the No. 54 car was effectively managed directly by Coach Gibbs.
No ruling on the temporary restraining order has been issued. The judge has asked both sides to continue working through the weekend.…Read more by Sadik Hossain