Joe Gibbs Racing says ex-exec leaked team secrets

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (CN) — Joe Gibbs Racing, its former exec Christopher Gabehart and Spire Motorsports all met again in Charlotte court Monday.

Gibbs Racing sued Christopher Gabehart, its former competition director, in February, claiming he took photos of confidential racing data and planned to give them to its competitor Spire Motorsports after accepting a new position. Spire, who is now named as a defendant in the case, induced Gabehart to break his employment contract, Gibbs Racing claimed. Gabehart is now working for Spire as chief motorsports officer.

Other teams in NASCAR know about and have discussed Gibbs Racing’s confidential information in garage areas, attorney Sarah Hutchins for Gibbs Racing told the court, adding that there are reports of people having access to the data.

Gibbs Racing is pushing for a preliminary injunction, wanting the court to limit the work Gabehart does for its competitor and crack down on the confidential racing data it claims Gabehart photographed. It also asked to subpoena several members of other teams, including leadership from Rick Ware Racing and Trackhouse Racing, whom it claims texted about confidential Gibbs Racing data.

“This is going to tell us how far Mr. Gabehart’s taking and sharing of confidential secrets have gone,” Hutchins said, asking for expedited discovery. She said Gabehart Googled “indemnification” — the process in which a party agrees to compensate the other for their behavior — after meeting with Spire co-owner Jeff Dickerson.

U.S. District Judge Susan Rodriguez, who pushed Hutchins for additional information, said she wouldn’t issue subpoenas based on speculation.

Hutchins also said the defendants have indicated they plan to file countersuits.

Two weeks ago, Rodriguez issued a limited temporary restraining order, requiring Gabehart to stop retaining or using any of Gibbs Racing’s confidential data, return it to the team and stop doing any adjacent work for Spire. Gabehart was allowed to continue working for Spire, as long as he didn’t do the same type of work as he did for Gibbs Racing in the year prior. Rodriguez extended the order, which would have expired Monday night, for another two weeks.

The Donald Trump appointee also emphasized the importance of retaining and preserving evidence, as it appears a laptop Gabehart purchased after turning in his Gibbs Racing work computer has yet to be forensically analyzed. The parties hadn’t been able to come to an agreement on searching Gabehart’s accounts and devices, but Rodriguez directed Gabehart and Gibbs Racing to come to an agreement on the review.

There is still no evidence that Spire has seen the racing data, Rodriguez said, requiring Gabehart to participate in accelerated discovery but not Spire.

“He owns it, he made a mistake,” Cary Davis, counsel for Gabehart, said.

“There’s a little bit of a credibility issue,” Rodriguez said, adding that there has been a pattern of additional information coming out like “layers of the onion.”

Gibbs Racing is on a “fishing expedition” to try to uncover data, John Gibbs III, counsel for Spire, said.

Gabehart stole the “secret sauce” that yields itself to Gibbs Racing being one of NASCAR’s most preeminent teams, Gibbs Racing argued.

Spire has opposed the injunction, saying it has never seen the documents that Gabehart took photos of and would find data from other teams “largely irrelevant.” It never asked for the data and doesn’t want the information Gibbs Racing accused Gabehart of taking, it said, adding that it has given Gibbs Racing the opportunity to inspect its systems for stolen materials, but the team declined.

Gibbs Racing is trying to keep Gabehart from doing any job he has the skills to do, Spire argued.

Spire should also be bound from using or keeping its trade secrets and confidential data, Gibbs Racing said, claiming its competitor conspired with Gabehart to misappropriate racing secrets. Gibbs Racing asked the court to prevent Gabehart from having any involvement in the two racing series it participates in — the NASCAR Cup Series and NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series — or being allowed near preparations for those competitions.

The team also wanted Gabehart to maintain detailed records of the work it does for Spire and agree to a forensic examination of his devices and accounts where he stores business secrets. Counsel for Gabehart had agreed to the search during a February hearing, but negotiations broke down.

Spire has also begun contacting Gibbs Racing’s partners and sponsors, the team said, despite never contacting them before Gabehart started working at Spire. It claimed that among the data photographed by Gabehart was sponsorship info and business arrangements.

Gabehart has said that his current position at Spire is drastically different from the work he performed for Gibbs Racing. He is involved at the executive level and has oversight over all of Spire’s racing programs, not just the NASCAR Cup Series, and handles program development and vendor and manufacturer relationships, he told the court.

Joe Gibbs and Chris Gabehart declined to comment after the hearing, as did counsel for Spire.

Thomas Melsheimer, counsel for Gibbs Racing, said the team anticipates finding that Gabehart shared information in the discovery process, along with his communications with Spire.

“We know that he prepared this information to take it with him when he left our employment,” Melsheimer said. “These weren’t souvenirs. These were some of the crown jewels of our operation.”

Another hearing over Gibbs Racing’s request for a preliminary injunction has been scheduled for March 26.

Follow @SKHaulenbeek Follow @shaulenbeek.bsky.social