Just when the legal battle seemed to be tilting in Chris Gabehart’s favor, Joe Gibbs Racing has fired back with a bombshell claim that could change everything. At first, it seemed kind of unfair for Gabehart. Especially due to his declaration, which claims that there was no such action of his that could prove that his intentions were to steal necessary data from Joe Gibbs Racing. However, the latest evidence that Joe Gibbs brings to the court shows they won’t let him off the hook so easily.

Joe Gibbs gets ready to expose Chris Gabehart’s secrets

Joe Gibbs will be filing in against Chris Gabehart and his declaration tonight. According to reports from Bob Pockrass on social media,

“It is undisputed that he took photos of his computer screen with his cell phone and saved more than 200 JGR proprietary files in a folder named ‘Spire.’ This is sufficient to support a preliminary injunction as to Gabehart.”

Not only that, but they are also arguing that his current role at Spire Motorsports directly disobeys the non-compete clause of his release from the team. The basis of Gibbs’ current accusations stems from a recent blunder unveiled by his team against Gabehart.

Reportedly, Gabehart took multiple pictures of sensitive information from Joe Gibbs Racing on his phone. In Gabehart’s defense, his attorneys label it as an embarrassing mistake. However, JGR is trying to expose the very same mistake as malicious intent on his end.

“There is no innocent explanation for secretly accessing, reviewing, and selectively deleting an employer’s confidential files after your employment has ended and you are negotiating with a direct competitor. Gabehart’s belief that he was acting in secret is itself powerful evidence of wrongful intent.”

With this revelation, everything suddenly changes in favor of Joe Gibbs. If Chris Gabehart does have an unknown folder that he was hiding from JGR, it does hurt his defense.

The said ‘Spire Motorsports’ folder, which was found by JGR’s team among these files, refutes his entire claim of not using sensitive information from his former team for Spire’s profit. As JGR states,

“Perhaps tellingly and nefariously, Gabehart chose not to let Mr. Walton (Clark, the examiner) examine the unknown Microsoft OneDrive before litigation or disclose he accessed it while simultaneously interacting with JGR’s materials he saved in his Spire folder.

“Gabehart’s assertion that there is no risk of spoliation is unreliable and falls flat.” Now those are some serious accusations against Gabehart. Since the start of the lawsuit, he has been pleading innocent on the basis of the said examination of his devices.

This new angle and new revelation about secret folders and labels with Spire Motorsports put him at risk of being proven false. A new examination for expedited discovery is being requested by Joe Gibbs Racing to bring the truth to light.

But Chris Gabehart is not the only one whose claims are under review.

Joe Gibbs Racing denies involvement with Spire Motorsports

While Spire Motorsports was claiming that Joe Gibbs did not fulfill his agreement with them, Gibbs’ team has reportedly thrashed these claims. According to Toni Rogers, Chief People Officer of Joe Gibbs Racing, there was no such agreement that she was aware of.

Spire was claiming that Joe Gibbs Racing had agreed to pay $100,000 to the team if they did not let Spire hire an employee to release Chandler Smith from his contract with Spire early. Rogers also refutes the said trade deal, trying to reveal the reality behind the same.

“The understanding was that if the Spire spotter joined JGR, JGR would take over his existing salary, and if it was greater than what JGR had been paying the JGR spotter, that differential would be offset against the $100,000.00.

“Ultimately, that trade never happened as the Spire spotter chose not to leave Spire. To my knowledge, JGR has never received an invoice for the referenced payment of $100,000.00.” Now this statement throws the entire Spire team under the bus.

The lawsuit between Gabehart and Joe Gibbs keeps overcomplicating certain situations. In this case, it is quite visible that Spire Motorsports is getting dragged in, no matter their earlier stance on the matter.