Joe Gibbs Racing star Denny Hamlin fired back at Jeff Dickerson after the Spire Motorsports owner's recent argument about the ongoing JGR-Chris Gabehart lawsuit. Dickerson criticized Joe Gibbs Racing for undermining the efforts of Spire's talents and attributing their recent success to Gabehart's arrival with the allegedly stolen data.

In a recent interview with NASCAR journalist Jeff Gluck, Dickerson described how it felt to be on the receiving end of the lawsuit.

"I will say that it is tough sitting in court, and being called a liar, and a thief, and a cheater. And every time that a judge has asked for any evidence, they have produced nothing," Dickerson said. "We've done everything the right way, everything. We have taken no shortcut. So when we hear in court that we're trying to take a shortcut, you know, it's man, it's tough."

Reacting to the clip shared by Gluck on X, Hamlin shared a blunt message for Dickerson. The JGR driver wrote:

"Yeah, okay buddy. You hired someone who stole tens of millions worth of information, lied about communications y'all had after you deleted them, and now is getting paid double to work on your truck program? GTFO. What was it you called Richard again? Was it you who was leaking information after RTA calls?"

JGR's argument has mainly been against its former Competition Director, Chris Gabehart. The team has accused him of stealing trade secrets and sharing the data with Spire Motorsports, the team he joined late last year.

The teams still haven't decided on a trial date. JGR wants to proceed with the trial later this year and conclude it before the 2027 NASCAR season. However, Spire isn't comfortable with such an expedition and wants to proceed with the trial in May 2027.

While Denny Hamlin did criticise Jeff Dickerson over his recent statements, he wasn't bitter about Carson Hocevar winning his first Cup race with Spire.

Denny Hamlin showers praise on Carson Hocevar

Denny Hamlin hailed Carson Hocevar after the Spire Motorsports driver won his first Cup race at Talladega Superspeedway last weekend. It took 91 race starts for the 23-year-old to achieve the milestone.

On his podcast "Actions Detrimental," Hamlin appreciated Hocevar, saying, "Carson Hocevar. I’ll tell you, I was really happy for him, I still am. I think we thought that Carson could win. I think the speedways are still his best opportunity to win. But he’s starting to show it on all the other racetracks as well."

Hocevar started the race from 12th place, but fell to 16th place by the end of Stage 1. In Stage 2, he returned to 12th place again, and after the "Big One" turned the race on its head, he went on to win in the third stage. Meanwhile, Denny Hamlin finished the race in 15th place.

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Written by

Sabyasachi Biswas

Edited by

Yask Kotak