Denny Hamlin Brands $8 Million JGR vs Chris Gabehart Lawsuit as “Awfully Disappointing”
Joe Gibbs Racing veteran Denny Hamlin has shared his frustrations with the lawsuit drama involving his ex-crew chief Chris Gabehart and his team.
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Denny Hamlin and Chris Gabehart (Via IMAGO)
- Denny Hamlin expresses disappointment over Joe Gibbs Racing's $8 million lawsuit against ex-crew chief Chris Gabehart.
- The lawsuit alleges Gabehart took sensitive data to Spire Motorsports, breaching his contract.
- Hamlin emphasizes the importance of proprietary data in racing, highlighting its collaborative nature and the need for teams to protect it.
Joe Gibbs Racing veteran Denny Hamlin had one of the worst off-season possible, after he lost the 2025 championship to Kyle Larson. Charter lawsuit, loosing his father in a housefire and shoulder injury made it an emotional roller coaster. The latest addition to the chaos is the JGR lawsuit against his ex-crew chief Chris Gabehart.
Joe Gibbs filled a lawsuit seeking $8 million in damages from Chris Gabehart for taking sensitive JGR data to his new team Spire Motorsports and breaking the deal of not serving the same role at his new team like at JGR. On his podcast, Denny Hamlin addressed the lawsuit and shared his frustration about new legal drama.
It’s disappointing to read. My offseason was very taken up by a lot of things. I was not aware of all the things that were kind of going on behind the scenes. I really can only speak from a 23XI standpoint of like, why is the information so protected?
Denny Hamlin said via Actions Detrimental podcast.
He is finding it personally hard to see two people he cares a lot at odds at the moment, in Gibbs and Gabehart. The veteran believes that his team is pretty serious about the allegations as they would not have gone through the court, unless there was significant breach. It’s another lawsuit involving Hamlin that will reshape the dynamic with in the sport.
It’s awfully disappointing to see two people that you’ve cared for at odds right now. But Joe Gibbs Racing is willing to go to court. I think they’re pretty serious. I’ll say that. Joe ain’t looking to fight anyone. So, it’s tough.
Denny Hamlin added.
Denny Hamlin explains how significant proprietary data are for teams
In the same conversation, the veteran explained how the proprietary is pretty significant for teams in the Next-Gen era, where teams have limited opportunities to work on the car. He also highlighted how every change made to the cars are product collaborative effort and asserted that a single person can’t own those information’s.
No one person owns any information. If it’s a setup or what have you, I collaborated on that. The engineers put time into developing that. The aero department. There’s so many departments that contribute to whatever that piece of paper says that the car is running that weekend. No one person owns that or has the right to take it anywhere. That’s someone else’s work.
Denny Hamlin asserted.
Later, he pointed out that every piece of proprietary information each team has are significant their own ways and admitted how better they can perform if they have Hendrick Motorsports’ sensitive data. Hence, it’s important for the owners to safeguard every bit of data that gives them an advantage.
We race a spec-car now. Do you know how much faster we could possibly be if we had all of Hendrick’s information? Theirs and ours? You just can’t let that happen, which is why the teams are so very protective over their information.
Denny Hamlin added.
The lawsuit is going to become uglier, considering the fact that JGR now has filed for a restraining order against Gabehart working at Spire and has also named the Chevy team as one of the defendants. It would be interesting to see how everything is going to playout and how the court ruling affects the sport community.
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