Denny Hamlin doesn’t play around when it comes to Joe Gibbs Racing, even if it means going against his closest. Just a couple of days ago, Hamlin drew a line as he was forced to pick sides in the ongoing JGR lawsuit. While admitting that “there’s honestly no going back,” the 45-year-old driver has made his stand clear. And now, in light of new information, JGR’s blood runs thicker than water as he puts his longtime companion under the bus again.

“I have reviewed the description of the materials Gabehart apparently retained on his personal cell phone and personal Google Drive account as described in the Walter Brown declaration. This information represents the crown jewels of our racing operation,” Hamlin said.

That was without any Hamlin describing the potential value of the data at the center of Joe Gibbs Racing’s escalating legal dispute, a statement that also underscored the awkward reality of the situation. The driver making that claim is the same one who spent years alongside Chris Gabehart on the No. 11 team.

Hamlin and Gabehart formed one of NASCAR’s most recognizable driver-crew chief pairings from 2019 through 2024. Together they piled up race wins and championship contention, with Gabehart serving as a strategic voice atop Hamlin’s pit box.

In 2025, the former JGR employee moved upstairs within the organization to take a broader role as the organization’s competitive director, giving him even deeper access to the team’s internal performance data and technical processes. Now the access is exactly what sits at the heart of the organization’s $8 million legal fight.

“These materials provide a comprehensive roadmap for JGR’s competitive strategies and are the exact set of proprietary and confidential information any of JGR’s competitors would want to understand JGR’s processes, technological capabilities, and payment structures that have led to JGR’s overwhelming success,” the 45-year-old driver added.

Moreover, in court filings supporting a request for expedited fact discovery against Gabehart and Spire Motorsports owners Dan Towriss and Jeff Dickerson, JGR argued that determining whether proprietary information moved with Gabehart to Spire is urgent for the competitive balance of this

To strengthen the claim, the team submitted declarations from previous prominent figures within the industry, including Hamlin, JGR competition director Wally Brown, Toyota racing executive Andy Graves, and Front Row Motorsports owner Bob Jenkins.

Their statement was intended to outline just how valuable and sensitive modern NASCAR competition data can be. One of the more unusual details revealed in the filings is that JGR retained a private investigator after the Cup Series season ended.

According to the documents included as Exhibit C, the organization hired Ryan Simpson, a licensed North Carolina investigator with Barefoot Private Investigations, to observe interactions involving Gabehart.

And as the declaration made clear, the team believes the information at issue is as valuable as it gets in modern NASCAR competition.

But with the legal storm continuing, Hamlin may have done Gabehart dirty before, but currently, his focus is on something else entirely. As the NASCAR Cup Series heads to Phoenix Raceway, Hamlin’s personal bane of existence, the 45-year-old looks to shift his outlook to the track.

Hamlin aims to make a firm comeback at Phoenix

Denny Hamlin could laugh about it now, but the memory still lingers every time he rolls back into Phoenix Raceway. Last November, the veteran looked poised to finally secure the championship that had eluded him for two decades.

Hamlin controlled much of the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series title race, pacing the field for 208 of the event’s 319 laps. The outcome of a strategy decision failed to deliver an overtime restart, leaving the No. 11 team empty-handed.

Now 45 and already a 60 race winner in the series, Hamlin returns to Phoenix in a very different position. He entered the weekend setting 23rd in the standings and will roll off 11th on the starting grid for Sunday’s race for Joe Gibbs Racing. There’s still a bit of unfinished emotional business with the place.

“I’m still angry at the track a little bit,” Hamlin admitted. “But the track doesn’t have a soul, so it can’t feel the things I feel.”

Still, the veteran knows the only option is to start fresh.

“You’ve still got to come in here and start the whole process over again and do all the right things and see where the result pans out this time. Haven’t had a whole lot of races since we were here for the championship, so we’re just trying to get acclimated with where we are at this point and seeing if we can replicate some of the magic we had,” he said.

Historically, Phoenix has always been one of Hamlin’s better venues. He has had 41 career Cup Series starts at the 1-mile oval. He has scored two victories along with 17 top-five finishes and 24 top tens.

In his 1147 laps led at the track, Hamlin ranks third all-time among active drivers, and he was one of only five competitors to record top 10 finishes in both Phoenix races during the 2025 season.