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The federal court presiding over the dispute between Joe Gibbs Racing, former competition director Chris Gabehart and Spire Motorsports has moved the case toward a January trial date after a recent telephonic hearing. The scheduling decision falls between the parties’ competing proposals — plaintiffs pushing for November and defendants asking for May — and directs the teams to confer on a detailed set of pretrial deadlines. The order asks the parties to file a joint plan within ten days, and to note any disagreements so the court can resolve them.
Court timeline and the judge’s order
Judge Susan C. Rodriguez set the trial month to allow more time than plaintiffs wanted but less than defendants requested, signaling a middle ground approach to calendar management. The court’s written direction requires the parties to propose a schedule that governs everything between now and trial, including the scope and timing of discovery. Media access to the telephonic hearing was limited, which means specific exchanges from that call are not public; nonetheless, the ruling makes clear that the court expects the parties to cooperate in shaping the pretrial process. The goal is to prepare for trial while preserving the opportunity to settle beforehand.
Discovery decisions: what the court allowed and what it refused
The judge issued a mixed decision on a motion for a second round of expedited discovery, granting targeted measures while rejecting broader, exploratory demands. Among the court-approved actions were a third-party subpoena to Spire co-owner Jeff Dickerson seeking communications and documents referencing Gabehart’s hiring and materials tied to JGR’s confidential information. The court also allowed subpoenas to telephone providers for records reflecting calls and text messages between Gabehart and Dickerson during the specific period of October 1, 2026 through March 13, 2026, and ordered a forensic review of Dickerson’s devices to determine whether responsive texts can be recovered and when any autodelete functions were activated.
What the judge declined
The court turned down sweeping requests that it characterized as a fishing expedition, denying Joe Gibbs Racing’s bid to subpoena a range of third-party personnel from several Chevrolet-affiliated teams and to force Spire to produce broad categories of internal documents and retention policies. Specifically, subpoenas aimed at individuals such as Joe Custer, Justin Marks, Todd Meredith, Rick Ware and Tommy Baldwin were refused. The judge also refused to require Spire to hand over wholesale communications on the grounds that the requests were overbroad and lacked a clear nexus to specific evidence of misuse by Spire.
Teams’ positions and the on-track context
Public statements from the parties underscore both reputational stakes and competitive anxieties. JGR seeks more than $8 million in alleged damages, contending Gabehart misappropriated trade secrets, stored them in a Google Drive folder labeled “Spire” and captured images of screens before departing. JGR also alleges that relevant text messages were deleted. A preliminary injunction ordered Gabehart to return accessed information and limited him from performing the same duties at Spire, while still permitting him to attend races.
Spire’s rebuttal and the alliance question
Spire co-owner Jeff Dickerson has forcefully defended his team, saying Spire “has not even begun to fight” and insisting the organization did not and does not want JGR’s material. Dickerson highlighted the team’s technical partnership with Hendrick Motorsports as an alternative source of performance data and questioned why JGR would seek records from smaller Chevy teams rather than its actual alliance partner. Meanwhile, JGR co-owner Heather Gibbs framed the suit as protecting decades of proprietary work, saying the team has a responsibility to safeguard its confidential information developed over 35 years.
Competitive implications and next steps
On the track, Spire is enjoying a breakthrough season highlighted by Carson Hocevar‘s win at Talladega and a surprising place in the standings after the opening races, which JGR has cited as evidence of immediate competitive harm. Gabehart counters that his move was lawful and that no enforceable non-compete restricted his new role. With the court focused on recovering deleted communications and the timing of any autodelete activations, factual battles over what data moved where will be central. If the case proceeds to trial in January, the litigation will combine technical digital forensics, contract disputes and traditional tort claims, all while the teams continue to contend on NASCAR race weekends.