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Ty Gibbs at Phoenix Raceway.
Ty Gibbs is not letting the noise around his NASCAR Cup Series team get to him. As Joe Gibbs Racing and the team’s former competition director Chris Gabehart are amid a legal battle, Gibbs is staying quiet on the matter.
One of the latest developments was Gabehart filing a declaration, where he spoke Gibbs’ commitment to the sport. He expressed “serious concerns” with how the driver and team were being handled.
Gibbs chose not to speak about Gabehart’s comments on Saturday. Instead, the driver of the No. 54 is dialed in on performing at a high level for his grandfather’s team.
Ty Gibbs on Gabehart’s comments: ‘I won’t speak anything on it’
In the declaration tied to the JGR, Gabehart said Gibbs wasn’t being held to the same standard as fellow JGR drivers Chase Briscoe, Christopher Bell, and Denny Hamlin were.
Instead, Gabehart said that the No. 54 was directly managed by owner Joe Gibbs “and everyone in the organization knew it.”
Furthermore, Gabehart said he was pressured into being a behind-the-scenes crew chief for Gibbs last year, and wound up calling nine races from the No. 54 pit box during the 2025 season.
On top of that, when it came to competition meetings, Gabehart gave an example of how Gibbs received special treatment, in that he “was not held to the same meeting attendance standards as others on the team.”
Despite Gabehart’s comments, Gibbs didn’t comment when asked about the matter by FOX motorsports reporter Bob Pockrass. The former O’Reilly Auto Parts Series champion believes he works as hard as anyone and is focused on performing well.
“I still work as hard as anybody else, no matter what anybody says and can say. … I won’t speak anything on it. I’ll let my performance on track handle it,” Gibbs said.
Gibbs is amid his fourth full-time season of NASCAR Cup Series racing. The 23-year-old has yet to win a Cup race in 126 career starts. After three seasons, Gibbs has posted a best finish of 15th in the points standings, back in 2024.
Joe Gibbs Racing suing Chris Gabehart over confidential information
Last month, Joe Gibbs Racing sued former competition director Chris Gabehart. The legal battle stemmed after Gabehart left JGR ahead of the 2026 season to join Spire Motorsports as the team’s Chief Motorsports Officer.
The team alleged that Gabehart stole “proprietary information” and took photos of his laptop screen “in order to conceal that he was accessing and taking JGR’s confidential information and trade secrets.”
In turn, Gabehart said in his declaration that the role as competition director was not what it was sold to him as. Initially, Gabehart said he was promised a “COO-type” role where he would oversee all competition aspects.
“Instead, I found myself constantly intertwined with Coach Gibbs, senior JGR executives and family members when making even routine competition decisions — a dysfunctional organizational structure that I could not continue in,” Gabehart said.
Joe Gibbs Racing currently fields four full-time cars in the NASCAR Cup Series. In addition, JGR has four entries in the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series and one full-time car in the ARCA Menards Series.
John Breeden John Breeden is a NASCAR contributor at Heavy Sports. He has five years of sports journalism experience. He graduated from James Madison University in May of 2022 with a degree in media arts and design. John is also a sports reporter for the Daily News-Record in Harrisonburg, Virginia. Previously, John was a sports writer for JMU’s The Breeze and a NASCAR content writer for Sportskeeda. More about John Breeden
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