A NASCAR truck driver has been ordered to pay $850,000 for an affair she had with a married man — that ended up ending his 17-year marriage.
Race driver Jennifer Jo Cobb, 53, has been ordered to pay Tracey Hughes the damages for her alleged months-long dalliance with Hughes’ husband, Clayton Odie Hughes after the scorned wife sued under North Carolina’s “homewrecker law.”
Tracey Hughes claimed in the 2024 lawsuit that the secret tryst her hubby had with Cobb caused the previously “happily married” couple to split in 2021, according to a report by WBTV.
The 53-year-old veteran racer “willfully, intentionally, and deliberately seduced, enticed, and alienated the affections” of Clayton Hughes, the ex-wife alleged in the suit.
Cobb — who raced in NASCAR’s O’Reilly Auto Parts Series and Truck Series from 2001 through 2024 –would call and text Clayton Hughes while she was traveling for races and would set up “regular trysts” with him, the complaint claimed.
Tracey Hughes “suffered the loss of support, injury to [her] feelings and reputation, and had her marital relationship destroyed,” the filing claimed.
Cobb denied the allegations in court papers and unsuccessfully sought to get the suit tossed, according to a report by WFMY News.
A jury Thursday sided with Tracey Hughes and awarded her $50,000 on the claim of alienation of affection and another $800,000 on the claim of criminal conversation.
Clayton Hughes was not named as a defendant in the lawsuit.
In a handful of states, including North Carolina, a person can be sued if it can be proved that they intentionally wrecked a marriage.
Cobb has the option to appeal the verdict.
Cobb’s lawyer didn’t immediately return a request for comment Wednesday.
