Chris Gabehart has responded to a lawsuit filed by Joe Gibbs Racing in which the team accused him of "a brazen scheme" to steal confidential data.
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The former Joe Gibbs Racing competition director issued a statement on social media on Friday afternoon denying the claims in the lawsuit.
"Yesterday afternoon, Joe Gibbs Racing filed a lawsuit claiming — falsely — that I shared confidential JGR information with Spire Motorsports and/or other unnamed parties," Gabehart wrote. "I feel compelled to speak out today and forcefully and emphatically deny these frivolous and retaliatory claims.
"I look forward to the opportunity to demonstrate to the Court that I have not shared JGR's confidential information with anyone. In fact, I have already demonstrated that to JGR. A third-party forensic expert retained by JGR recently examined my laptop, cell phone, and personal Google Drive and found no evidence to support the baseless allegations in JGR's lawsuit.
"We even offered JGR the opportunity to do a similar review of Spire's systems. JGR refused that offer and filed this spiteful lawsuit instead. Stay tuned. We will have much more to say in the legal response we will be filing in the coming days."
The lawsuit made several allegations about Gabehart. Joe Gibbs Racing said that the former crew chief-turned-competition director had sought more control over the racing operations but that team owner Joe Gibbs had said no.
The lawsuit claimed that the team had prepared a separation agreement and that Gabehart had represented that he remained unsure about his next place of employment.
The lawsuit then claimed that he had "embarked upon a brazen scheme" to steal confidential information about race car setups, payroll, employee incentives, contract lengths, and other important details.
Joe Gibbs Racing alleged that he had used his phone to take photos of the screen on his team laptop and that he had created multiple folders in a personal Google Drive folder. These allegedly included one labeled "Spire" and another labeled "Past Setups."
Joe Gibbs Racing seeks damages in an amount to be determined at trial. The team said the amount is believed to exceed $8 million for "compensatory and other damages, doubled damages, and attorneys' fees."
