Months after the NASCAR world recovered from the lawsuit situation, Joe Gibbs Racing has once again disturbed the calm waters, filing a lawsuit against one of their closest former racing aides. Chris Gabehart had worked with the team for over a decade, including his stint with the #11 crew as Denny Hamlin’s crew chief. And now, he is accused of data theft.

Just after one race into the season, the Daytona 500, Joe Gibbs Racing has accused him of stealing sensitive team data, including essential setups, and using them with Spire Motorsports.

While these accusations are rather grave, nothing can be confirmed at this time. JGR seeks to recover the extensive damage that Gabehart is alleged to have done to the team, and keep him “from violating his contractual obligations and wrongfully using JGR’s confidential information and trade secrets.”

While this sounds like a simple statement, this lawsuit could hurt Gabehart financially if it goes against him. According to the released information, the team paid him $1 million plus bonuses every year. Moreover, drawing an estimate from 2025 alone, he is said to have made over $500,000 through bonuses alone, making his entire payout a whopping $1.5 million.

JGR’s complaint letter against Gabehart further accuses him of quite a few particular aspects. This includes the defendant (Gabehart) syncing his personal Google Drive with his team laptop, conducting online searches about Spire Motorsports (while he was still with the team back in October and November).

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Moreover, there was a separate folder in the drive titled “Spire,” and a subfolder titled “Past Setups.”

Gabehart worked with Joe Gibbs Racing in very analytical roles. His involvement with the team’s highest levels was rather understood, considering he had worked there since 2012. While his departure did raise quite a few eyebrows at first, the situation settled. But Joe Gibbs’ allegations against him left him with no choice but to go against him legally.

Gabehart was associated with the team up until December 2025 and later announced his plans to move to Spire. However, his search history (as per JGR) reveals that he had been searching for the team’s info for months before this.

Furthermore, there was no clarification on Gabehart leaving the team, not even from Joe Gibbs.

Joe Gibbs’ confusing statement on Gabehart’s departure

Gabehart’s sudden departure seemed odd, and there wasn’t much of an explanation from Gibbs, either.

“After the season, Chris [Gabehart] and I met, and we just decided to go our separate ways,” he said.

He further went on to explain that the team brought Willy Brown back to a full-time role, virtually replacing Gabehart.

“What we did is Wally Brown came back because he had been in that role. He had been working less time with us, like three days a week. We brought Wally back, and he is great in that role. We just had our competition meeting yesterday, and then we have four others that work on a committee.”

He also spent time as Denny Hamlin’s crew chief between 2019 and 2024, during which he won several races and qualified for the playoffs multiple times. While they did not work together in 2025, which was arguably the closest call Hamlin had to win the Cup Series title, he does feel Gabehart’s absence.

“It’s a little different. I’m used to having Chris (Gabehart) there,” he said.

At the same time, he is trying to adjust to the change that Brown has brought. “But we also have the experience of Wally Brown, who’s been in that role as competition director in many of the heyday years of JGR and their performance. I think he can step in there and do the role.”

Understandably, Gabehart had quite a few responsibilities working with Joe Gibbs Racing. Nothing ever seemed out of the ordinary during his tenure of work and the success he brought. However, his exit sparked questions, and now it seems to be getting worse for him. The lawsuit seems harsh, but there are still quite a few developments expected.