TC Daily Pit Stop: Joe Gibbs Racing Suing Former Competition Director Chris Gabehart; Daytona Ratings Show Positive Increase
TC Daily Pit Stop: Friday, February 20, 2026
Joe Gibbs Racing Suing Former Competition Director Chris Gabehart
Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR), one of the most successful organizations in the history of the NASCAR Cup Series, has filed a major lawsuit against its former Competition Director, Chris Gabehart, after what the organization alleges was a “brazen scheme to steal JGR’s most sensitive information and use it for the benefit of a direct competitor in NASCAR — Spire Motorsports.”
Gabehart, a native of Louisville, Kentucky, had been with Joe Gibbs Racing in some capacity for nearly 15 years, first joining the organization in 2012 as an engineer for Kyle Busch in the NASCAR Cup Series. The 44-year-old served as a crew chief for the team from 2016 to 2024, including several years working with Denny Hamlin in the NASCAR Cup Series.
Beginning in 2025, Gabehart was promoted to the role of Competition Director.
The major complaint in the lawsuit filed against Gabehart comes as a result of the former employee attempting to steal sensitive information from the championship-winning organization and bring it to Spire Motorsports.
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Speedweeks Delivers Solid Ratings Numbers for NASCAR’s Top-Three Series
There’s quite a bit of excitement surrounding the 2026 NASCAR National Series campaign, and the ratings for Speedweeks at Daytona International Speedway seem to deliver that point well.
On Thursday, FOX Sports released the official ratings numbers for the 2026 DAYTONA 500, the 68th running of the event, which garnered an average viewership of 7.489 million viewers — a year-over-year increase of 11%.
It’s the most-watched DAYTONA 500 since 2023, which averaged 8.173 million viewers. Both the 2024 and 2024 editions of ‘The Great American Race’ were thwarted by weather delays.
FOX says that the peak viewership of the DAYTONA 500 came between 5:30 PM ET and 5:45 PM ET, when the broadcast had a total of 9.154 million viewers, the highest peak viewership since 2024, which reached over 10M.
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NASCAR Headlines
Carson Kvapil Fills 2026 NASCAR O’Reilly Schedule With Four Races at DGM Racing
1-800-PACK-RAT Joins RCR in Multi-Race, Multi-Series Primary Sponsorship
Race To The Chase: Some Heavy Hitters In Precarious Spot Heading Into Atlanta
Why Did Kyle Busch Bail Out of the Pack With Two to Go in Daytona 500?
Tumultuous Speedweeks Ends with DAYTONA 500 Heartbreak for Carson Hocevar
ATLANTA ENTRY LISTS
Entry List for NASCAR Cup Series AutoTrader 400 at EchoPark Speedway
There are 38 cars on the entry list for Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series Autotrader 400 at EchoPark Speedway. The two “Open” entries are the No. 44 NY Racing Team with JJ Yeley, and the No. 78 Live Fast Motorsports team with BJ McLeod.
Entry List for NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series Bennett 250 at EchoPark Speedway
There are 39 drivers that will battle for the 38 spots in Saturday’s NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series Bennett Transportation & Logistics 250 at EchoPark Speedway.
Among the notables are Cody Ware, driving the No. 30 Barrett-Cope Racing entry, Gio Ruggiero in the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing entry, Joey Gase in the No. 35 Joey Gase Motorsports entry, and Mason Maggio in the No. 91 DGM Racing entry.
Entry List for NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Fr8 208 at EchoPark Speedway
There are 36 trucks on the entry list for Saturday’s NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Fr8 208 at EchoPark Speedway. Notables in the event include Corey Heim in the No. 1 TRICON Garage truck, Adam Andretti in the No. 5 TRICON Garage truck, Ty Dillon in the No. 25 Kaulig Racing truck, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. in the No. 45 Niece Motorsports truck, John Hunter Nemechek in the No. 62 Halmar Friesen Racing truck, and Carson Hocevar in the No. 77 Spire Motorsports truck.
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