Chris Gabehart shows up in Spire gear as a lawsuit court deadline looms

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — Chris Gabehart made his first public appearance as a Spire Motorsports employee on Saturday — at the IndyCar race in St. Petersburg.

The employee at the center of a federal lawsuit concerning his employment status sat inside the Andretti Autosport hospitality as lawyers work behind the scenes to come to a resolution with Joe Gibbs Racing before Monday afternoon.

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“With all the momentum the sport currently has, coming off everything in the offseason, I think this is a very unfortunate spot for the sport to be in, in the public light,” Gabehart said. “This is something that could have been taken care of behind closed doors. I can respect the fact that we are working our way through it and will continue to do so as long as it takes.

“I feel bad for all the publicity that this has drawn away from the sport of NASCAR.”

Gabehart spent 13 years with JGR and in 2025 was the competition director for Gibbs’ NASCAR team. A dispute over his new role late last year led to negotiations on his separation.

The talks became contentious and eventually broke down. Gabehart accepted a job with Spire as their chief motorsports officer and Gibbs is seeking a restraining order to stop the move. JGR is also suing Gabehart for allegedly taking proprietary information to Spire, which has also been named as a defendant in the case.

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All parties were in court Friday and a federal judge ordered negotiations to continue or she will make a ruling on Monday regarding Gabehart’s ability to work for Spire.

Gabehart was permitted to work this weekend and went to the IndyCar race in Florida, where Spire parent company TWG Motorsports has three cars racing under the Andretti banner. Spire has two entries in the Truck Series race here.

A different role

Spire co-owner Jeff Dickerson in Florida clarified that Gabehart did not make a lateral move in leaving JGR, which is a point of contention in Gibbs trying to block the hiring. Dickerson said Gabehart was hired for a much larger role than the one he had at Gibbs and will be part of nearly all TWG properties.

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Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/chris-gabehart-shows-spire-gear-182955955.html

Author : JENNA FRYER

Publish date : 2026-02-28 18:29:00

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