The attempt by Richard Childress Racing to prevent a former engineer from taking a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series crew chief position with Chip Ganassi Racing has been rejected by a North Carolina business court.
Richard Childress Racing loses lawsuit vs. Jamie McMurray’s new crew chief
The NASCAR team was suing for breach of contract and misappropriation of trade secrets.
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RCR was suing Matt McCall, an engineer on Ryan Newman’s No. 31 RCR car in 2014, for breach of contract and misappropriation of trade secrets. McCall had resigned at the end of the season to move to CGR as crew chief for Jamie McMurray and the No. 1 team. RCR sought an injunction preventing McCall, who had a one-year non-compete clause, from taking “capacity identical or similar to that in which he participated” as stipulated in his contract.
RCR contended that while McCall was an engineer he had served in the capacity of crew chief on occasion, which made his joining Ganassi not a promotion but a lateral move. And in a motion filed Dec. 3, RCR also noted it had offered McCall a crew chief position on one of its Xfinity Series team for 2015, but McCall declined.
Judge Louis Bledsoe III ruled in favor of McCall on all accounts and denied the injunction.
“Plaintiff [RCR] has not shown, at this time, a likelihood of success on its claim that by accepting a crew chief position with Ganassi, Defendant [McCall] has become employed in a ‘capacity identical or similar to that in which he participated while employed by (plaintiff) and therefore has breached the employment contract,’” Bledsoe determined.
By accepting a position with CGR, McCall will earn “three times the amount of compensation” in 2015.
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