Spire Cites Nonpayment as It Fights JGR’s Bid to Curb Chris Gabehart’s Role
A new defense argues JGR voided its own non-compete by halting pay.
Overview
- Spire’s latest court filing says Joe Gibbs Racing stopped paying Chris Gabehart or ended his deal without cause, which it argues makes the restrictive covenant unenforceable.
- A preliminary-injunction hearing Thursday will set the limits on what Gabehart can do in his new job at Spire Motorsports.
- An earlier court order let Gabehart keep working at Spire but barred duties that mirror his JGR role and required him to return any confidential team files.
- JGR’s lawsuit seeks more than $8 million and claims he took setup and analytics data, citing a forensic review and photos showing a December 2 visit to Spire’s shop.
- Spire counters that there is no proof he shared team intel and says it has not paid his legal fees, in a fight that could shape how NASCAR teams guard data in the Next Gen car era.