The ongoing legal battle between Joe Gibbs Racing and Chris Gabehart/Spire Motorsports is set to move forward to trial now that the judge has set a date.
Videos by FanBuzz
District Judge Susan C. Rodriguez issued a ruling on May 6 and partially granted Joe Gibbs Racing's motion for an expedited trial. The organization had requested a date in November 2026. Spire Motorsports pushed back and requested a trial date in May 2027.
Judge Rodriguez essentially split the difference. She set the trial date for January 2027, meaning that the parties will meet in court while also preparing for the start of the 2027 Cup Series season.
"The parties are directed to meet and confer and submit to the Court within 10 days a joint proposal as to pretrial deadlines as discussed," Judge Rodriguez wrote. These meetings would provide timelines for discovery and other parts of the process leading up to trial.
Depending on when NASCAR sets Preseason Thunder, the sides of this legal battle could also have to split time between a Charlotte court room and Daytona International Speedway.
Back in February, JGR filed a lawsuit against Gabehart, alleging that he stole confidential data and trade secrets. The team said that the former competition director had stole information to benefit Spire Motorsports, the team he joined as Chief Motorsport Officer.
Forensic investigations revealed that Gabehart had taken data from JGR's servers and saved it into a Google Drive folder titled "Spire." He had also used his cell phone to take photos of the screen of his work laptop.
Gabehart has returned the data while Spire Motorsports has long maintained that it never requested or received any confidential data from Joe Gibbs Racing.
The two sides of this legal battle have gone back and forth with numerous motions. JGR, in particular, sought a preliminary injunction that would keep Gabehart from working for Spire Motorsports and in NASCAR for a period of more than one year.
Judge Rodriguez partially granted this injunction. Gabehart is allowed to continue working for Spire Motorsports, but he is not allowed to perform the role of competition director.
The situation has taken another turn, however, after Carson Hocevar won his first career Cup Series race for Spire. Joe Gibbs Racing asked Judge Rodriguez to allow an amended refiling of its lawsuit, saying that Spire's "sudden improvement" is due to Gabehart "misappropriating" the confidential information.
"Spire's decision to give Gabehart a different title while causing him to perform the same responsibilities he promised not to perform in the year following his departure from JGR was intended to harm JGR and to create a deceptive cover for Gabehart to violate his restrictive covenant in a way that is difficult to detect," Joe Gibbs Racing wrote in the request.
"These allegations further underscore the proposed Second Amended Complaint states a claim for tortious interference with contract against Spire.
"Last, the proposed Second Amended Complaint alleges Spire knew that Gabehart retained JGR's trade secrets and confidential information and intended for him to use it for the benefit of Spire."
