Joe Gibbs Racing’s lawsuit against one of its employees, Chris Gabehart, sent ripples across the motorsports community. So much so that numerous theories began to come up. From sabotage claims to broken agreements, there were many. However, as per leading NASCAR insiders, the reason could be a lot different and, at the time, entirely shocking.

NASCAR insiders dropped the reality check

In the recent Rubbin is Racing podcast, Large, Moonhead, Quigs, and Spider sat down to discuss Joe Gibbs Racing’s $8 million lawsuit against its former employee, Chris Gabehart. Connecting the dots, here’s what Quigs said as he read Gabehart’s admission to the court:

“Going to read them verbatim: ‘Joe Gibbs Racing is a dysfunctional organizational structure I could not continue in.'” Another quote: “The ’54 was managed directly by coach Gibbs, and everyone in the organization knew it. ” And finally, the 54 driver was not held to the same meeting attendance standards as the others on the team. So, that’s all in print now. That’s part of whatever this discovery is; they’re coming through.”

Notably, Gabehart revealed some sensational information to the court on Joe Gibbs Racing’s functions, where the team owner, Joe Gibbs, allegedly gives Ty Gibbs, his grandson, leeway. Following this, Moonhead explained why the lawsuit could be personal:

“I agree. I think it’s personal, and I think there’s more to the story,” Moonhead said. “I was reading an article from Adam Stern recently, early in March, where he mentioned that Carson Hocevar could potentially be in talks with Monster Energy to get some sponsorship there. Could this be Joe Gibbs just like getting pissed and salty that they’re taking the crew chief and Chris Gabe Hart? They’re taking the sponsorship from Joe Gibbs over to Spire. You know what I’m saying.”

Going by Moonhead’s comment, he mentioned how Monster Energy was reportedly in talks with Carson Hocevar regarding a sponsorship deal to cement their place in NASCAR as one of the top sponsors. The move comes after they pulled their sponsorship from Tyler Reddick of 23XI Racing at the end of last year.

However, no report suggests that Monster Energy will withdraw from Ty Gibbs and JGR and replace them with Carson Hocevar and Spire Motorsports. The sponsorship, if it gets underway, can be a dual one, just like the #45 and #54 cars last year.

Personal or not, JGR, in the lawsuit, stated that its former employee, Chris Gabehart, stole important data and passed it to its competitor in the NASCAR Cup Series, Spire Motorsports. While the NASCAR insiders can point out the personal angle on Joe Gibbs by going with Chris Gabehart’s comments, it might not be the case, as per the court’s recent findings.

JGR attorney attacks Chris Gabehart, questions his credibility

Joe Gibbs Racing’s attorney for the lawsuit, Tom Melsheimer, revealed intricate details from the courtroom, which cast a shadow over Chris Gabehart’s integrity and credibility. Speaking about it after coming out of the courtroom recently, Melsheimer said:

“The court has already found that he didn’t tell the truth, to put it politely, about his activities while at JGR. He created a folder called “Spire” containing some of our most confidential and trade secret information. There’s no reason for him to have created that unless he was intending to use it to assist a competitor.”

Going by the remarks of the attorney, this was definitely a partial win for Joe Gibbs Racing, given how it discredited Chris Gabehart, who worked with the organization for 13 years. During this time, he moved from being an engineer to the team’s competition director before moving to rival Spire Motorsports for what is allegedly the same role.