A North Carolina woman says she found a measure of justice after a jury ordered NASCAR truck driver Jennifer Jo Cobb to pay $850,000 in a lawsuit tied to the affair that ended her marriage under the state’s homewrecker law.
“The lawsuit gave me power. It empowered me, it gave me focus. It gave me a job to do and stand up for myself,” Tracey Hughes told WFMY on Friday.
Hughes was awarded the striking sum Thursday in her case against Cobb. She said her life was thrown into turmoil after Cobb allegedly disrupted her 17-year marriage to Clayton Odie Hughes in January 2021.
“I felt like my whole world had just blown up,” Hughes told the outlet.
Hughes filed the lawsuit in 2024, accusing Cobb, 53, of having “willfully, intentionally, and deliberately seduced, enticed, and alienated the affections” of her husband. According to the complaint, the alleged affair continued for several months.
She alleged that Cobb frequently texted her husband, including while traveling to races, to arrange their next sexual encounters.
Clayton Hughes had worked for years as a spotter for the Jennifer Jo Cobb Racing team, Heavy reported.
The lawsuit invoked two common-law claims — alienation of affection and criminal conversation — that remain recognized in only a small number of states, including North Carolina.
“Alienation of affection is any wrongful act that a third party does to diminish the feelings of affection of one spouse for another, and it actually doesn’t require sex,” Hughes’ attorney, John Vermitsky, told the outlet.
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Hughes sought more than $25,000 in damages on each claim. Criminal conversation is the legal term used for adultery.
She also requested more than $25,000 in punitive damages.
On Sept. 24, a Davidson County jury found in Hughes’ favor and awarded her $850,002: $50,000 for alienation of affection and $800,000 for criminal conversation.
The panel additionally assessed $1 in punitive damages against Cobb for each claim, bringing the total to the remaining $2.
“It’s more important, I think, to be vindicated. The money figure was, I think, just a statement maybe by the jury,” Hughes said.
Still, Hughes said the lawsuit’s lengthy public life came with its own emotional cost.
“Your most private parts of your life are out there. I thought it would stop at the courtroom, but it’s gone a little bit more into the press,” she said.
The case is not yet final. Cobb said the judgment has not been entered and post-trial motions remain pending, WFMY reported. The veteran driver also sought to distinguish the jury’s verdict from any formal legal orders.
Cobb has competed in 256 races across NASCAR’s O’Reilly Auto Parts Series and Truck Series during a career spanning two decades.
Her most recent appearance came in the 2024 Truck Series race in Kansas City, where she drove for her own Jennifer Jo Cobb Racing team and finished 31st.