Click Here to Watch the TV Commercial! • Listen to the Audio Interview!

One of the major selling points to thousands of loyal NASCAR Camping World Truck Series fans is the approachability of the drivers and the feeling that the drivers are indeed average folks, just like us. The same goes for the hundreds of crew members and officials that work in the garage area.

The crew chiefs and other crew members don't have million-dollar motorcoaches they take to each race, rather they crash in the same hotels that are often packed with the ticket-buying public. They aren't invited to be guest panelists on the talking head shows, and it's rare to see their faces on television except during the race broadcasts on Speed Channel.

However, two members of the NCTS community have become television stars in recent weeks.

Marty Houston, who works in the shop as a fabricator and serves as the pit coordinator for Morgan-Dollar Motorsports' No. 46 Chevy Silverado Chevrolets driven by Dennis Setzer, and Chad Smith, a mechanic and the jackman for Darrell Waltrip Motorsports' No. 17 NTN Bearings Toyotas that David Reutimann drives, spent three days in Southern California shooting the Craftsman Tools commercial that can be seen during most NASCAR race telecasts. Both enjoyed the trip to Hollywood, and while both are still keeping to their down home roots, it's easy to see that both are yearning to spend more time with the stars on the red carpet.

"For them to ask us, just two regular guys, to go out and basically represent the whole series, it was pretty cool," Houston said. "Sears was really good to us and Craftsman treats everyone in the garage area really well. We were more than happy to do it, we had a lot of fun."

Click Here to Watch the TV Commercial The Marty Houston File: Hometown: Hickory, N.C. - Wife: Stephanie and Children: Hannah and Sarah - Shop Duties: Fabrication and Pit Coordinator - Track Duties: Front Tire Changer Houston has made 44 starts as a driver in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series and 19 starts as a driver in the NASCAR Busch Series; brother of NASCAR veteran Andy Houston and son of NASCAR Busch Series legend Tommy Houston.

In the commercial, Houston stops by Smith's garage stall and asks how he was able to help repair Reutimann's truck after an accident on the track. Not one to allow the competition to know the real truth, Smith pulls out a pocketknife and says that the little blade was the key to cutting off damaged sheet metal. Not to be outdone, when Smith asks what Houston used to repair Setzer's truck after a crash, he pulls out a rubber band and says 'this little baby right here.'

Most weekends at the speedway start before sunrise, so it was no surprise to either that the wakeup call came at 5:30 A.M.

"I don't know if J. Lo starts her videos that early in the morning, but we sure did," Houston said. "That was alright, we're used to that. The bad part is we were right down by Sunset Boulevard and lots of cool places, but it was right when they were having all that rain and the mudslides so we didn't get to go and do anything. We sat in the hotel room and watched TV.  We didn't get to go out and do anything or see any of the things we would have if the weather was better."

Click Here to Watch the TV Commercial The Chad Smith File: Hometown: Plymouth, N. H. - Wife: Paula and Children: Chase and Ashley -   Shop Duties: Mechanic, Suspension Specialist - Track Duties: Jackman Smith has been a part of four Busch Series championship teams, working with BACE Motorsports in 1995, 1996 and 1997 with drivers Johnny Benson and Randy LaJoie and with ppc Racing in 2000 with Jeff Green; he started working in racing at the local dirt tracks in Vermont

Smith, affectionately known as "Peanut" in the garage, gives Houston a hard time for sounding like a spoiled movie star.

"Yeah, he was too worried about going out and partying all the time, so I had to carry him quite a bit while we were out there," teased Smith while Houston laughed. "Everyone knows who the actor was there in that commercial!"

Staying in the heart of Hollywood and the Sunset Marquee gave them both a chance to rub shoulders with some of the biggest entertainers in the world.

"J. Lo was in the room right next door. Hey J. Lo, why haven't you called?"  Smith asked with a laugh. "We did get to walk down the Sunset Strip, even in the rain. We had a chance to see a lot of things that we only had a chance to see on TV. The best thing was they had an In and Out Burger truck show up on site, and I love In and Out, so that was pretty cool."

While both men had fun and enjoyed their time working on the commercial, when it gets down to it, they aren't planning on leaving their "day jobs" for the glitz and glamour of show biz.

"We had a lot of fun out there but this is our livelihood," Smith said. "We have a lot of fun with it and work with a lot of great people. Marty and I have known each other for a long time, and we joke around quite a bit. What you saw in the commercial is how it is with us all the time. It's like a big family here, and we have a lot of fun."

Houston says that he has put a lot of thought into which of the "tools" featured in the commercial he would like to have at his disposal.

"To me, you can only use one pocketknife at a time," he said with a sly grin. "After we came back and the commercial was on a couple of times, every time I went to church people would give me about 50 rubber bands.  What I am doing now is we have some glue and some popsicle sticks, and my daughters and I are going to build a Craftsman toolbox out of the rubber bands and popsicle sticks. We're going to unveil it at the SEMA show. It's going to be priceless. We might just have to take it to the Barrett-Jackson auction."

The debate will rage on and on for the rest of the season. Some will say the pocketknife is the way to go, while others will put their stock in rubber bands. What isn't debatable is the fact both men are portrayed in the commercial just as they are in real life.

The Marty Houston File:
Hometown: Hickory, N.C. • Wife: Stephanie - Children: Hannah and Sarah
Shop Duties: Fabrication and Pit Coordinator - Track Duties: Front Tire Changer
Houston has made 44 starts as a driver in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series and 19 starts as a driver in the NASCAR Busch Series; brother of NASCAR veteran Andy Houston and son of NASCAR Busch Series legend Tommy Houston.  http://www.dennissetzer.com

The Chad Smith File:
Hometown: Plymouth, N. H. • Wife: Paula - Children: Chase and Ashley
Shop Duties: Mechanic, Suspension Specialist • Track Duties: Jackman
Smith has been a part of four Busch Series championship teams, working with BACE Motorsports in 1995, 1996 and 1997 with drivers Johnny Benson and Randy LaJoie and with ppc Racing in 2000 with Jeff Green; he started working in racing at the local dirt tracks in Vermont.  http://www.waltripracinginc.com/ 

Click Here to Watch the TV Commercial!  •  Listen to the Audio Interview!

 Special thanks to the folks at Wundeman and Ogilvy & Mather for providing the TV Commercial
 Original TrackSideLive! audio edited for continuity by TruckSeries.com