The seas have parted within Joe Gibbs Racing. The top-tier NASCAR Cup Series team found itself at a crossroads with its former employee. Denny Hamlin’s ex-crew chief, Chris Gabehart, led the team to many victories and successful seasons. But as his winning drive has shifted to another team, a JGR lawsuit has been launched against an alleged theft of information. Yet the allegations did not convince a NASCAR insider.

Too smart for the JGR lawsuit

“If he was going to take anything, use anything, Chris Gabehart’s plenty smart enough and educated enough to know how to do things on his own, right? No, especially being around there and seeing all the processes that go into building the car. I mean, you don’t have to have that on a computer of someone as smart as Chris to put that in your memory bank and bring it over to wherever else you’re going,” Tommy Baldwin Jr. said on ‘Door, Bumper, Clear.’

Last Thursday, Joe Gibbs filed a lawsuit in the Western District of North Carolina. He accused his team’s former competition director and Denny Hamlin’s ex-crew chief, Chris Gabehart, of sharing confidential information with Spire Motorsports. The JGR lawsuit alleges that trade secrets could include racecar setups, simulation models, pit crew metrics, fuel strategies, performance analytics, and internal processes.

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But according to Tommy Baldwin Jr., competition director at Rick Ware Racing, these allegations have loopholes. According to the $8 million JGR lawsuit, an investigation found that Gabehart set up a folder on his computer, named ‘Spire’. It was in his personal cloud storage, which also carried the team details. However, Baldwin claims that for a talented person like Gabehart, who guided Denny Hamlin to 22 victories, storing such information was hardly necessary.

“He doesn’t have to write it down to remember the setup. It’s not like it’s not rocket science,” Baldwin said. “The whole win is the car getting put together. It’s not like it’s the product getting put together. The setup’s the setup, but how the car goes together is the win, right? How it’s prepared. So, he still knows all that. He’s been over there for years. He understands all the processes.”

Yet Tommy Baldwin understood the JGR lawsuit’s argument as well. “Toyota does a lot of confidential information and contracts, and stuff. They try to protect their stuff. They’re a little bit different than pretty much the other manufacturers.” He continued, “I mean, they put millions and millions and millions of dollars into the sport, and they don’t want that type of information going to another manufacturer.”

Nevertheless, Chris Gabehart is gearing up for a solid legal response.

The lawsuit battle is underway

Chris Gabehart left Joe Gibbs‘ fold in December 2025 and is now headed to Spire. However, Gabehart is ready to settle his scores before starting his new journey. On Friday, he publicly denied the team’s allegations and accused his former employer of filing a “spiteful” and “retaliatory” lawsuit.

Gabehart disputed the claims by stating that a third-party forensic specialist’s investigation into his phone, laptop, and personal Google drive found no evidence corroborating the JGR lawsuit’s allegations.

According to insider reports, three attorneys have already filed notices to appear in court as Chris Gabehart’s legal representation. They include Cary B. Davis, Anna Claire Tucker, and Spencer T. Wiles. All three possess “A class” resumes with expertise in cases involving NASCAR, arbitrations in professional sports and entertainment, and internal probes.

“We even offered JGR the opportunity to do a similar review of Spire’s systems,” Chris Gabehart said. “JGR refused that offer and filed this spiteful lawsuit instead. Stay tuned. We will have much more to say in the legal response we will be filing in the coming days.”

Well, this seems like the beginning of another feisty, blood-letting legal battle. We can only wait and see how the JGR lawsuit unfolds.