Chris Gabehart has decided not to submit to Joe Gibbs‘ accusations. His former employer’s lawsuit is looming over his head, but he has clarified that he has nothing to be afraid of.

“This lawsuit is not about protecting trade secrets—it is about punishing a former employee for daring to leave,” said Chris Gabehart in his latest statement.

Everything seems to be falling apart in Joe Gibbs’ story regarding Chris Gabehart. In his official declaration, Gabehart also reveals that, “The forensic review demonstrated that I did not transmit, distribute, or share JGR confidential information. I had (and have) no ‘plan’ to compete unfairly.”

With Gabehart doubling down on his stance, the fingers are now pointing towards Joe Gibbs for seemingly accusing an innocent employee who did not want to work with them anymore. Not only that, but Gabehart has also brought up an issue that is already making NASCAR fans furious. Gabehart did not like that Ty Gibbs and his team were provided preferential treatment at the organization.

“I further expressed serious concerns about the management of JGR’s No. 54 car, which is one of JGR’s four Cup Series entries. It was my view that the No. 54 car should be managed and held accountable in the same manner as the organization’s other cars.” He says the team owner was personally controlling the management of that entry.

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For Gabehart, JGR was nothing but a “dysfunctional organization structure that” he did not want to be a part of. He was reportedly lied to about his job role, and he accuses JGR of not giving him the autonomy that was advertised.

Not only that, Chris Gabehart also reveals that sometimes he had to compete with JGR family members to make routine competition decisions.

He accuses JGR of putting constant pressure on his shoulders to take over as the crew chief of the No. 54 car, a task that he reportedly declined and did not want to continue with.

In his declaration, Gabehart provides a clear explanation of his actions. Gibbs was pressing over the photographs that he considers contain important information about their team and its trade secrets.

Instead of denying it, Gabehart accepts the same in his declaration. However, the reason for his doing was not what Gibbs accuses him of.

“I admit that on November 2025, I took photographs on my phone of a JGR Excel file, with multiple tabs, and other notes and files that I created or had a significant role in their development. All of the information contained within the files was relevant to my job at JGR. I understood my confidentiality obligations to JGR and had no intent to violate those obligations.”

And this brings us to yet another period of controversy in the sport…

NASCAR team goes to court once again

The last time a team was trying to fight for its survival was when it went to court. This time, a team is trying to end the career of one of the ex-employees and another team in the NASCAR Cup Series.

Joe Gibbs claims that Gabehart’s so-called defection from the confidentiality agreement has caused them $8 million in damages. He requests a temporary restraining order for Gabehart.

Now that Chris Gabehart has submitted his official declaration, the court is back in session. The hearing is scheduled for Friday at 1 p.m. ET in this case. This situation between Joe Gibbs and Chris Gabehart exposes a lot of dirty laundry in JGR. Whoever ends up winning the case, the sport will take another hit to its reputation.

For now, JGR is the one with a target on its back. After all, the accusations of the team owner favoring his grandson and creating a nepotism-fueled team structure have been on the NASCAR community’s mind for many years.

It may be a long shot, but Corey Heim and his fallout with Toyota Driver Development might also become a hot topic soon in this regard.