JGR’s Trade Secrets Fight Escalates in Court

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Joe Gibbs Racing has once again asked a federal court to subpoena five NASCAR Cup team executives in its lawsuit against its former competition director Chris Gabehart, claiming they have had access to JGR’s trade secrets, but Gabehart says the court should stay out of JGR’s “turf war.”

In a hearing last month, US District Judge Susan C. Rodriguez denied JGR’s request asking that Haas Factory Team President Joe Custer; Trackhouse Racing owner Justin Marks and President of Racing Operations Todd Meredith; Rick Ware Racing owner Rick Ware and Competition Director Tommy Baldwin be subpoenaed. JGR asked for the subpoenas, saying the team had heard in the Cup garage that Spire Motorsports and Gabehart, who was hired by Spire as its chief motorsports officer, had shared JGR trade secrets with those operations.


Rodriguez denied the request, saying she needed hard evidence to issue a subpoena, not garage gossip. Ironically, Meredith worked for JGR for more than two decades from May 1992 until stepping down as its chief operating officer in February 2016. He remained a consultant for JGR throughout 2016. He joined Trackhouse in 2025.

“JGR’s request is part of a continued harassment campaign designed to drag Mr. Gabehart, Mr. (Jeff) Dickerson (Spire Motorsports co-owner), and anyone associated with Spire through the mud with no evidentiary basis,” it stated in Gabehart’s response to JGR’s second motion for expedited discovery.

“The racing community is small and tight-knit. JGR knows that serving subpoenas (with no evidentiary basis) on leaders of competing teams will deliver a message throughout the industry. The Court should not become a surrogate for JGR’s turf war.”

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In its second expedited discovery motion, JGR contends those five executives should be subpoenaed because their teams, like Spire, field Chevrolets.

“Consequently, these individuals are among the most likely individuals Dickerson may have communicated with concerning Spire’s possession of JGR’s Confidential Information and Trade Secrets due to their common Chevrolet relationship,” it stated in the court document. “For that reason, JGR requests the ability to serve narrow third party subpoenas on these individuals, seeking only production of communications with Spire or Spire’s agents concerning Spire’s possession of JGR’s Confidential Information and Trade Secrets.”



JGR also contends it should be granted more expedited discovery because it has learned from Gabehart that he deleted all of his text messages with Dickerson before November 15, 2025, and that Dickerson’s text messages with Gabehart prior to January 26, 2026, were deleted. JGR maintains the discovery is necessary to preserve “relevant evidence that is at risk of being lost” and to provide “greater information about the circumstances leading to the deletions.”

Gabehart doesn’t oppose the request for a subpoena to his cell phone provider. However, he wants the subpoena to be issued by him, not JGR, to ensure only relevant, non-privileged information is provided to JGR. Gabehart has already begun the process of requesting any available data for the deleted texts from his cell phone provider.



“Expedited discovery is also necessary because Gabehart’s and Dickerson’s conduct demonstrates a risk of concealment of dissemination and use of JGR’s Confidential Information and Trade Secrets and delay in identifying the extent of what is being hidden risks further irreparable harm to JGR,” JGR contended in the court document.

Gabehart contends the motion should be denied because it:

• Seeks to relitigate issues that have already been addressed in court.
• Wants to expand the expedited discovery beyond the narrow scope the court previously authorized.
• Needlessly pulls third parties into the litigation without any factual basis.

Rodriguez has yet to rule on JGR’s request for a preliminary injunction against Gabehart and Spire Motorsports. On Thursday, she extended the temporary restraining order against Gabehart until April 16. It was scheduled to expire on April 9.

JGR wants an 18-month non-compete enforced against Gabehart. However, Gabehart contends JGR doesn’t have the right to enforce that lengthy non-compete because of the way his departure from the team occurred.

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