{"id":921959,"date":"2026-10-05T21:24:12","date_gmt":"2026-10-05T21:24:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/921959\/"},"modified":"2026-10-05T21:24:12","modified_gmt":"2026-10-05T21:24:12","slug":"woman-speaks-out-after-suing-nascar-driver-over-affair","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/921959\/","title":{"rendered":"Woman Speaks Out After Suing NASCAR Driver Over Affair"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\"NASCAR-Truck-Series-driver-Jennifer-Jo-Cobb-during-Fresh-From-Florida-250\"Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports<\/p>\n

The North Carolina woman who won a lawsuit in which a jury ordered NASCAR driver Jennifer Jo Cobb to pay her $850,002 over an alleged affair with her husband has now spoken out.<\/p>\n

Last week, a jury awarded Tracey Hughes the money<\/a> under the state\u2019s \u201chomewrecker law\u201d after she claimed Cobb had an affair with her husband and ended their 17-year marriage.<\/p>\n

North Carolina is one of very few states that allow this type of lawsuit<\/p>\n

Hughes filed the lawsuit<\/a> under two state statutes: criminal conversation and alienation of affection. Only a few states still permit such claims, including North Carolina.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlienation 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\u2019t require sex,\u201d Tracey Hughes\u2019 attorney, John Vermitsky, told WFMY News<\/a>. Criminal conversation is the legal term for adultery.<\/p>\n

Hughes was awarded $50,000 for alienation of affections and $800,000 for criminal conversation by the jury. The jurors also held Cobb liable for punitive damages on both charges, but awarded only $1 for each.<\/p>\n

\u201cI felt like my whole world had just blown up,\u201d Tracey Hughes told WFMY News. \u201cThe lawsuit gave me power. It empowered me, it gave me focus. It gave me a job to do and stand up for myself.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hughes is the ex-wife of NASCAR<\/a> spotter Clayton Hughes, who has spotted for drivers like Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Martin Truex Jr., and Michael McDowell, as well as Jennifer Jo Cobb.<\/p>\n

According to the lawsuit, Jennifer Jo Cobb allegedly sent sexually provocative emails and phone calls to her spotter, Clayton Hughes, and had sex with him in North Carolina<\/a> and other states \u201cwhile traveling for racing competitions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cobb \u201cwillfully, intentionally, and deliberately seduced, enticed, and alienated the affections\u201d of her husband, Hughes\u2019 lawsuit claimed. The lawsuit also alleged that this continued for several months before the couple\u2019s separation in January 2021. Hughes claimed that prior to Cobb\u2019s involvement, her marriage had been happy.<\/p>\n

Hughes said the lawsuit has been challenging as it has been played out in public, and that the monetary award is not what matters most to her.<\/p>\n

\u201cYour most private parts of your life are out there. I thought it would stop at the courtroom, but it\u2019s gone a little bit more into the press,\u201d she said<\/a>. \u201cIt\u2019s more important, I think, to be vindicated. The money figure was, I think, just a statement maybe by the jury.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jennifer Jo Cobb is still fighting the jury\u2019s ruling<\/p>\n

Jennifer Jo Cobb declined to comment on the case\u2019s merits or the evidence. In a statement to WFMY News, she said that no official judgment has been entered, the court has not yet made a decision on post-trial motions, and she has not received any payment orders. She also vowed on social media to continue fighting the judgment.<\/p>\n

In her initial response to the lawsuit, Cobb refuted the accusations. In April 2024, she petitioned the court to dismiss the action, arguing that the state law allowing Hughes\u2019 claims is unconstitutional. A judge denied her request.<\/p>\n

Between 2004 and 2024, Jennifer Jo Cobb participated in 265 races in NASCAR\u2019s Craftsman Truck Series and O\u2019Reilly Auto Parts Series. On February 18, 2011, she finished sixth in the season-opening NextEra Energy Resources 250 at Daytona International Speedway, her only top-10 finish.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports The North Carolina woman who won a lawsuit in which a jury ordered…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":921960,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[446],"tags":[49,48,317391,7741,634,582,82],"class_list":["post-921959","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nascar","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-jennifer-jo-cobb","tag-lawsuits","tag-nascar","tag-racing","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/921959","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=921959"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/921959\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/921960"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=921959"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=921959"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=921959"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}