Spire Motorsports Breaks Silence on JGR’s Cheating Accusations

Spire Motorsports has declined using Chris Gabehart as a decoy to steal trade secrets from JGR to misuse them in NASCAR.

Spire Motorsports Breaks Silence on JGR’s Cheating Accusations

Chris Gabehart and Denny Hamlin (via Imagn)

In Short
  • Spire Motorsports has denied allegations from Joe Gibbs Racing regarding cheating and stealing trade secrets.
  • Joe Gibbs Racing claims Chris Gabehart took their intellectual property to benefit Spire, but no evidence has been presented.
  • The court has issued a restraining order against Gabehart, preventing him from performing his previous duties until at least April 9.

Spire Motorsports has finally snapped back at Joe Gibbs Racing in the recent Chris Gabehart lawsuit fiasco. JGR accused Gabehart of stealing important trade secrets of the time during his tenure as a Competition Director on the team. Though Spire supported the legal proceedings and did not meddle, they had to speak up when they were accused of taking advantage of the situation.

In a recent hearing in Federal Court on Thursday, Joe Gibbs Racing accused Spire Motorsport of cheating by hiring Chris Gabehart. According to JGR, Gabehart stole the intellectual property of the team and gave it to Spire to gain an advantage over the team. Now, Spire’s attorney Lawrence Cameron has denied these accusations and revealed the defendant’s side of the story.

Lawrence Cameron boldly argued that Joe Gibbs Racing did not provide any concrete evidence of Spire Motorsport using the ‘secret sauce’ to their advantage against the former. Cameron also declined the possibility of Spire encouraging such illicit acts by Chris Gabehart against the interests of JGR.

JGR alleged that he had stolen their ‘secret sauce.’ They specifically said that Spire knew of and encouraged stealing of JGR’s secret sauce. … There just is no evidence.

Lawrence Cameron said, per On3.com.

Currently, U.S. District Judge Susan C. Rodriguez has issued no ruling following both parties presenting their case. The restraining order against Chris Gabehart continues atleast until April 9. This means that Gabehart cannot perform the duties at Spire that he did during his tenure as a Competition Director at Joe Gibbs Racing. As such, the next hearing will shed some more light on the matter and hopefully provide a solution to the ongoing legal battle.

Chris Gabehart caught with pictures of important Joe Gibbs Racing data in a folder named ‘Spire’

Over the months, an investigation found Chris Gabehart having a folder in his computer labeled ‘Spire’. The folder contained images of Joe Gibbs Racing’s data. Meanwhile, questions were raised about the intent of this folder and the images inside it. Gabehart and Co. have now declined the possibility of using these images to conspire with Spire, though he agreed to ‘screw up’ taking these pictures.

Denny Hamlin and Chris Gabehart (Via IMAGO)
Denny Hamlin and Chris Gabehart (Via IMAGO)

Chris Gabehart’s attorney pointed out that this was his usual procedure with data. Gabehart is a ‘racing nerd’ and thus took pictures for calculations and other reasons. The attorney continued that he is an engineer from Purdue, and did not intend to use the picture to conspire with Spire Motorsport. However, the court might not have found these excuses reasonable enough and would look into it further.

[It’s] just what he does, He’s a racing nerd, an engineer from Purdue.

Chris Gabehart’s attorney argued.

Reportedly, the court will take up a motion from Joe Gibbs Racing on 8th April over other issues and complications in the legal battle. Following the initial motion, Spire and Joe Gibbs will have to respond by 11th April. The final response should come before April 13 as mandated by the court. Certainly, many shocking things about Chris Gabehart has come to light and he risks losing massive respect in the sport if found guilty of sharing trade secrets.

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