Spire Motorsports has pushed back against Joe Gibbs Racing’s latest contempt motion.
In a new filing on September 17, JGR has asked the U.S. District Court for the Western District of North Carolina to hold former competition director Chris Gabehart and Spire in civil contempt. The NASCAR Cup Series team claimed they violated the temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction issued earlier this year.
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Spire responded with a strong statement from co-owner Jeff Dickerson on Friday.
“JGR does not get to control what other race teams do through court cases. JGR does not own tire pressures, JGR does not own race strategy, JGR does not own the people who work in this industry, and JGR does not own Spire. Spire looks forward to responding to JGR’s motion in court,” part of the statement read.
“Spire’s underdog story continues to inspire race fans across the country. Spire will not be bullied by Joe Gibbs.”
Fans responded with mixed views. Several backed Spire and criticized JGR’s legal actions.
“Ya can’t hate JGR enough,” a fan wrote.
“I have no respect for [Joe Gibbs Racing] as an organization. They scream of insecurity and bullying as other teams find success,” another shared.
“I’ve never been a jgr fan EVER. But I’ve lost the little bit of respect that I had for joe. Absolutely disgraceful,” yet another commented.
Other fans speculated that Spire, which has two drivers in the NASCAR Cup Series Chase, would not have reached its current level without information linked to Gabehart.
“Maybe a solution is to stop using their data! Ha? What say you? No one in the right mind would believe that Spire somehow magically over performed Hendrick without any sort of cheating,” a user shared his opinion.
“Gibbs has a point y’all wouldn’t even be in the top 10 without the info y’all use from Gabehart,” another added.
The legal dispute remains pending. A federal jury trial is scheduled to begin on February 1, 2027.
Joe Gibbs Racing seeks contempt ruling against Spire Motorsports and Chris Gabehart
A preliminary injunction issued in April placed restrictions on Chris Gabehart’s work at Spire Motorsports. The court barred him from services similar to the competition director duties he performed at Joe Gibbs Racing, including race strategy, analytics, competition meetings, and input on car setups, aerodynamics, and operations.
JGR has now asserted that Gabehart continued to perform similar duties at Spire. The team said that Gabehart attended at least five, and possibly as many as 12, competition meetings.
Joe Gibbs Racing has raised another issue involving deleted messages. It said Gabehart deleted his text history with Spire co-owner Jeff Dickerson and other phone notes. The team has also asked the court to consider an adverse inference related to those deleted communications.
Edited by Palak Gupta
