In the ongoing lawsuit between Joe Gibbs Racing and Chris Gabehart, Hendrick Motorsports found itself entangled. JGR sought proprietary data from the setups of Spire Motorsports to establish its claim. But with Spire having an alliance with Hendrick Motorsports, they took a firm stance on safeguarding their organization’s interests.
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HMS sent their attorney, C. Bailey King, to protect their interests and present concerns about the sharing of sensitive information, given that they provide information and data to Spire through their technical alliance. King appeared at the hearing on October 1, and it seems the Chevrolet team has found common ground with JGR.
“Hendrick attorney C. Bailey King appeared in court and said HMS and JGR has reached agreements to protect HMS’ ‘crown jewels,’” Matt Weaver reported on X. JGR has withdrawn any effort to acquire HMS set up or data. Hendrick agrees not to redact Spire’s setups if they are produced in litigation.”
This leads us to believe that JGR still wants the documents to verify their claims, but in the process of seeking those documents, they do not want any of the setups or data that HMS provides to Spire. JGR understands the importance of technical alliance and the terms of such partnerships. They have a similar relationship with 23XI like HMS has with Spire.
Both JGR and HMS are upper-echelon teams, the premier team for their OEMs, Toyota and Chevrolet, respectively. JGR understands what would happen to them if they were in a similar position with other teams seeking documents of their setups from 23XI.
However, it’s not just the setups and race strategies that JGR was seeking Spire to present before the court. A large part of the lawsuit lies in JGR’s claim that Chris Gabehart, who served as their competitions director until November 2025, stole confidential information from JGR onto his personal laptop and phone.
According to JGR, beyond data and strategy, the information went into the intricacies of their Cup car build, along the lines of how they seal an airbox, how the underbody of the car is vacuum-tested, right down to the specifications of the lubrication to the transaxle.
HMS jumped into the picture once they realized that the documents JGR wanted Spire to produce before the court, on the surface level, may seem like things that Spire works on themselves. But several layers under the Spire information is the base for all of this, which is something that HMS provides to their technical allies.
As things stand, JGR’s stance at the October 1 hearing is that they do not want HMS’s data. Also, HMS has agreed that they will not be redacting any information regarding Spire’s setup if it is produced in front of the court.
Ever since the case got underway, JGR has kept on piling the pressure on Spire and Gabehart, first demanding that he should not be allowed to work for Spire. The court didn’t fully agree, but allowed Gabehart to continue working at Spire as their Chief Motorsports Officer as long as he doesn’t perform a role similar to the one he served at JGR as the competitions director.
JGR produced pictures from race tracks of Gabehart being present at the Spire pit wall, wearing a headset and speaking to driver Carson Hocevar. JGR claimed that Gabehart was performing competitions director-level duties when he was trackside.
JGR has also claimed that Gabehart had access to their information on a different device apart from the ones that had been presented before. Based on the fact that they believed Gabehart still had this access. JGR wanted documents on meetings in which Gabehart was present to understand if his influence led to an uptick in on-track performance for Spire cars.
On multiple occasions, Spire has denied receiving any such confidential data on JGR through Gabehart. Spire owner Jeff Dickerson said that they have no such information and also have no use for it since they have a technical alliance with Hendrick Motorsports for exactly this purpose.
Thursday’s hearing led to JGR raising questions about when Gabehart last accessed that information while discovery crucial to the basis of the case was presented. The court hasn’t ruled on the discovery yet, with the next turn in this case expected on Monday.
Meanwhile, on track, action resumes on Sunday in Las Vegas with JGR veteran Denny Hamlin looking for a first victory in the Chase. Spire’s best hope, Carson Hocevar, on the other hand, will look to bounce back from a dismal 33rd-place finish at Kansas.