Spire Motorsports officially hires Chris Gabehart amid lawsuit with Joe Gibbs Racing

Spire Motorsports officially hired former Joe Gibbs Racing competition director Chris Gabehart Saturday despite a lawsuit that Joe Gibbs Racing filed Thursday alleging that Gabehart stole sensitive information from JGR in an effort to give it to Spire. 

Fox Sports' Bob Pockrass reported Saturday morning that Spire had officially hired Gabehart, a move that was long rumored after it was learned in December that he would be leaving Joe Gibbs Racing. 

It was not until JGR filed the aforementioned lawsuit that the reason Gabehart suddenly left what seemed to be a solid situation came to light. 

What Chris Gabehart can provide Spire

Gabehart is now Spire Motorsports' Chief Motorsports Officer. That title is noteworthy because court documents in the lawsuit allege that Gabehart was frustrated with JGR when the team did not give him autonomy over all racing decisions. 

JGR alleges that Gabehart took photos of sensitive setup information and stored them on personal accounts and devices when he was not authorized to do so. Some of that sensitive information was allegedly put into a computer folder entitled "Spire."

From a pure competition standpoint, the move is a positive one for Spire, which has a solid driver lineup in Carson Hocevar, Michael McDowell and Daniel Suarez and has built itself into a top-20 contender.