RCR loses court fight to prevent Matt McCall from joining Chip Ganassi Racing

   The North Carolina Business Court, a court which hears cases involving complex commercial and corporate law disputes, has denied an attempt by Richard Childress Racing to obtain a temporary restraining order to prevent former employee Matt McCall from joining Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates.

   McCall, who was a team engineer on Sprint Cup driver Ryan Newman's team this past season, is slated to become crew chief for driver Jamie McMurray beginning with the 2015 season.

   In its order issued on Dec. 19, the court ruled, "the Court finds that Plaintiff (RCR) has not
presented sufficient evidence to show that it is likely that it will succeed on the merits of its claims, that Plaintiff will suffer irreparable harm if a temporary restraining order is not entered, or that the issuance of a temporary restraining order is necessary to protect Plaintiff’s rights during the pendency of the litigation."

   In the case, RCR claimed that even though McCall was employed as a team engineer, he “routinely performed the tasks of the crew chief.” When no crew chief position was available in the Cup series with the organization, McCall notified RCR he was resigning at the conclusion of the 2014 season. Days later, McCall accepted the crew chief position with Ganassi.

   RCR claimed McCall’s contract included a clause that he could not work for a competitor in a similar capacity for 12 months and sought a temporary restraining order preventing him from working immediately at Ganassi.

   You can read the court's full opinion here.