NASCAR insiders, Ryan Blaney react to Joe Gibbs Racing vs. Chris Gabehart lawsuit

Ryan Blaney and NASCAR insiders had some interesting things to say about the lawsuit between Joe Gibbs Racing and Chris Gabehart. On the Door Bumper Clear podcast, Blaney spoke to Freddie Kraft, Tommy Baldwin, and Karsyn Elledge about Joe Gibbs Racing accusing Gabehart of theft of trade secrets.

“I honestly don’t know,” Kraft said. “I wanted to say I thought (Gabehart) was smarter than what they’re saying he did. It’s hard to imagine this is how it went down. It’s a weird deal that I think we’re going to have to wait and see how it plays out.”

Baldwin had a question about the situation, as Gabehart worked as Joe Gibbs Racing’s competition director. “Has he helped create that information over the years?” he asked. “If he was going to take anything, use anything, Chris Gabehart’s plenty smart enough and educated enough to know how to do things on his own. Especially being around there and seeing all the processes that go into building a car, you don’t have to have that on a computer, as someone as smart as Chris to put that in your memory bank and bring it over to where else you’re going.”

Ryan Blaney used an NFL comparison when talking about the lawsuit. “It’s definitely tricky,” he said. “If an NFL coach goes to another team, he’s going to take his playbook with him. What’s the difference?”

Why is Joe Gibbs Racing suing Chris Gabehart?

Last week, Joe Gibbs Racing filed a lawsuit against Gabehart for allegedly embarking on “a brazen scheme to steal JGR’s most sensitive information” for the benefit of Spire Motorsports. Gabehart is being accused of violating his contract and stealing confidential team trade secrets when “his demands for additional authority were rebuffed by JGR’s owner.”

After the lawsuit was filed, Gabehart shared his reaction. “Yesterday afternoon, Joe Gibbs Racing filed a lawsuit claiming – falsely – that I shared JGR confidential information with Spire Motorsports and/or other unnamed third 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.”

Gabehart joined Joe Gibbs Racing in 2012 as an engineer and worked his way to crew chief for Denny Hamlin. Before the start of the 2025 season, JGR named him as the team’s competition director. On Saturday, Spire Motorsports announced that Gabehart will be the team’s Chief Motorsports Officer.