A North Carolina jury ordered NASCAR driver Jennifer Jo Cobb to pay $850,000 after siding with a wife who claimed Cobb wrecked her marriage through an alleged affair.
Jurors on September 24 found Cobb liable on two rare civil claims still recognized in North Carolina: alienation of affection and criminal conversation. They awarded Tracey Hughes $50,000 on the first claim and $800,000 on the second, plus $1 in nominal punitive damages on each, according to court records described in coverage of the case.
The U.S. Sun reported that the total ordered against the longtime female racer reached $850,000 after jurors backed Hughes’s claims that Cobb’s alleged romance with her then-husband, NASCAR spotter Clayton Odie Hughes, helped end the marriage.
Only seven states still allow a deserted spouse to sue a third party for intentionally destroying the love and affection inside a marriage. North Carolina is one of them. Criminal conversation is a civil tort there, not a crime, and it targets alleged sexual interference with the marriage.
Tracey Hughes and Clayton Odie Hughes had been married for 17 years. The complaint alleged the affair took place in the months before their divorce in 2020. The couple separated in January 2021.
Hughes originally sought more than $25,000 on each claim and $25,000 in punitive damages. The jury went far higher on the criminal conversation count.
The lawsuit claimed Cobb “willfully, intentionally and deliberately seduced, enticed and alienated the affections” of Clayton before the separation. A second claim said Cobb and Clayton “invaded and ended the exclusive rights and privileges” of the marriage and “dishonored” the couple’s “marital bed.”
Local television reporting cited in the coverage said the complaint also alleged Cobb encouraged the husband to lie about trips and helped him hide the relationship. Those remain allegations that the jury weighed in reaching its civil liability finding.
Cobb denied the claims in her court response. She had earlier sought dismissal on constitutional grounds. The case is not finished. Post-trial proceedings remain pending.
Cobb, 53, began her NASCAR career in 2004 and last raced in 2024. She holds Camping World Truck Series marks as the highest-finishing female driver in overall season points and for the most starts by a female driver. She has also worked as a professional public speaker and built a large social media following. Reporting described her net worth as heading into the millions.
She married NASCAR driver and team member Eddie Troconis in 2015. Whether that marriage ended before or after the period at issue with Hughes is not clear from available court coverage. Clayton Odie Hughes has worked as a NASCAR spotter since 2003.
The U.S. Sun contacted Cobb for comment on the decision. No response was detailed in the reporting.
The split of the award is telling. Jurors put far more weight on the criminal conversation claim than on alienation of affection. That is the count tied to alleged sexual interference with the marriage itself. They still found Cobb liable on both.
North Carolina’s decision to keep these old torts on the books is itself a statement. Most states abolished them decades ago. Seven did not. In those states, a spouse can still haul a third party into civil court and ask a jury to put a dollar figure on the wreckage of a marriage.
Tracey Hughes did exactly that. The jury agreed she had a case worth $850,000. Cobb’s constitutional challenge did not end the suit before trial. The verdict now stands while post-trial motions play out.
Marriage still carries legal weight in the few states willing to enforce it. When a jury says a third party helped tear one apart, the bill can land hard.
