Carson Hocevar’s first NASCAR Cup Series win at Talladega Superspeedway on Sunday gave Spire Motorsports a chance to hit back at Joe Gibbs Racing’s lawsuit against Chris Gabehart and the team.
JGR is pursuing an $8 million against former competition director Gabehart, alleging that he took protected team data before joining Spire Motorsports. The lawsuit, filed in February, later added Spire to the case. Gabehart has denied wrongdoing and a federal judge previously allowed him to continue working at Spire as long as he stayed away from JGR related word.
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In response to the lawsuit, Spire Motorsports and team owner Jeffery Dickerson issued an updated declaration that appeared to take a subtle jab at JGR, which had made a note of Spire’s lack of NASCAR Cup wins in earlier court filings.
“In connection with the matter, considerable attention has been drawn to the fact that Spire only has one win in the premier motorsports division in North America, the NASCAR Cup series. The allegation is now wrong. Let the record now reflect we have two,” part of the declaration read.
Fans online were quick with the reactions.
“This is entertaining,” one fan said.
“Savage and well played,” another fan said.
“This is professional pettiness and I’m inspired. Congrats,” a fan said.
Carson Hocevar won the Jack Link’s 500 after 91 Cup starts in the series. The 23-year-old held off Chris Buescher by 0.114 seconds and led 19 laps. Some fans credited the win to Gabehart, who joined Spire as chief motorsports officer.
“The Chris Gabehart effect 🙏😭,” one fan said.
“Will be many more wins coming 🙌,” another fan said.
Meanwhile, the lawsuit’s timeline is still being fought over.
JGR looking to amend lawsuit against Spire Motorsports after Carson Hocevar’s success
Joe Gibbs Racing is also looking to update its lawsuit against Spire and Chris Gabehart after Carson Hocevar’s win at Talladega.
The team has asked for a faster trial, with a target start date of December 7. It also argued that the recent improvement of Spire, including Carson Hocevar’s Talladega Cup win and his points standings in the Cup Series, shows why the dispute should be settled sooner rather than later.
Hocevar is now No. 8 in the NASCAR Cup Series points standings with a 70 points advantage over the No. 17 driver. He jumped four ranks from No. 12 after his win on Sunday. However, even with the win, the Michigan native is not locked into the playoffs like he would have if the championship format would have remained the same as last season.
With the ‘Chase’ format, Hocevar would have to maintain his points above the cut off line.
Edited by nagpaltusharn25
