Education

For Cypress Creek High School students wondering whether a classroom skill, childhood hobby or creative idea can become a career, Eric Estepp’s journey offers a compelling answer.

The 2016 Cypress Creek High School graduate has built a national following in NASCAR media through “Out of the Groove,” a daily YouTube show that delivers quick recaps and analysis of the latest NASCAR news. What began in a college dorm room in August 2016 has grown into a channel with more than 264,000 subscribers, along with opportunities to interview drivers, sponsor a race car and work directly with NASCAR.

For the Cypress community, Estepp’s success is also a reminder that career preparation can begin long before a student receives a diploma. His path connects childhood creativity, hands-on classroom instruction and years of consistent work behind the camera.

A Childhood Camera Sparked an Interest in Storytelling

Estepp still remembers receiving his first camera from Toys “R” Us as a child.

“It was very low quality,” Estepp said. “I remember when you would go to click record, you could hear the really loud clicking of the record button on the recording, so it was very jarring and disorienting.”

The camera may not have been sophisticated, but it gave him a way to experiment with recording, editing and telling stories. He soon began creating stop-motion videos featuring his own miniature NASCAR races.

Estepp would build a racetrack, position diecast cars and move them slightly between photographs. When the images were played together and paired with a voiceover, the cars appeared to race around the track in what resembled a miniature motorsports broadcast.

Those early projects helped him develop creative instincts, patience and an understanding of how individual images could be turned into a larger story.

Cypress Creek High School Helped Turn Creativity Into Technical Skill

Estepp entered Cypress Creek High School with experience creating media independently, but he credits the school’s Audio Visual Production program with expanding what he could accomplish.

“I learned non-linear editing, how to use Premiere, Photoshop, all the basic tools and software, and it was huge,” Estepp said. “I also took a flash animation class at Cypress Creek, so just learning those hard tools really opened up more possibilities to what I could work on, what I could create.”

Former Cypress Creek AVP teacher Jana Bulloch remembers Estepp as a focused student who already approached projects with the confidence and expectations of a director.

“What stood out to me about Eric was his focus,” Bulloch said. “He was used to creating his own media with minimal assistance, and he was a natural director. His classmates respected him greatly. ‘Ask Eric!’ was a common phrase. He knew exactly what he wanted and would accept nothing less. If I sent Eric out on a shoot, I had complete faith that whatever he came back with would be the best possible thing.”

His senior year also gave him valuable experience working in front of the camera. Producing the school’s weekly announcements required research, scriptwriting, preparation and confident delivery—skills that would later become central to “Out of the Groove.”

“My senior year of high school, we were doing the weekly announcements show, and we needed to be in front of the camera speaking confidently, and there was a lot of prep, researching topics and writing scripts,” Estepp said. “I think that made me comfortable doing this show on my YouTube channel.”

“Out of the Groove” Finds Its Place in NASCAR Coverage

After graduating from Cypress Creek High School, Estepp attended The University of Texas at Austin, where he studied Radio, Television and Film.

Working from a small dorm room with a roommate, he decided that producing stop-motion videos was no longer practical. Instead, he began creating a NASCAR video podcast for his YouTube channel.

He named the show “Out of the Groove,” a title that reflected both racing terminology and his unconventional path into motorsports journalism.

Estepp did not grow up in North Carolina, where many NASCAR teams and media organizations are based. He was a young Texas racing fan entering a field traditionally dominated by established journalists and industry insiders. Rather than follow the usual route, he created his own lane through accessible daily videos, independent analysis and a conversational approach to NASCAR news.

“I mean the opportunities I’ve had are just unbelievable,” Estepp said. “In 2016, I was literally just a fan of racing, so to look ahead and see the kind of access, the kinds of connections and opportunities I’ve had would just be really, really cool.”

As more NASCAR fans discovered the channel, “Out of the Groove” began to earn recognition across the sport.

Estepp appeared on CFISD’s student-run sports show, “The Locker Room”

A Daytona 500 Interview Brings New Credibility

A major turning point arrived before the 2019 Daytona 500, when Estepp interviewed an active NASCAR Cup Series driver for the first time.

The guest was Aric Almirola, a multiple-time Cup Series winner who had come within half a lap of winning the Daytona 500 the previous year.

For Estepp, the interview represented more than a channel milestone. It showed that teams, drivers and industry professionals were beginning to view his independent platform as a credible part of NASCAR media.

“That was a huge moment of just like legitimacy,” Estepp said. “It wasn’t an, ‘I’ve made it’, but it was a ‘Oh, enough people see the value in what I’ve been doing over here, feel like I know what I’m talking about enough, or that I can be trusted to showcase their sport, their brand, their athletes.’”

More opportunities followed.

In 2020, Estepp interviewed his childhood favorite driver, Matt Kenseth, the 2003 Winston Cup champion. During the final race of the 2022 season, “Out of the Groove” sponsored The Woodlands native Brennan Poole’s car in the NASCAR Xfinity Series.

The sponsorship brought Estepp’s digital media brand from YouTube onto an actual race car, connecting his Cypress-area roots with one of the sport’s national racing series.

Working with NASCAR While Maintaining an Independent Voice

In 2026, Estepp began partnering with NASCAR on a video series in which he reviews race footage with each week’s Cup Series winner.

The collaboration gives him access to race winners and footage that would otherwise be difficult for an independent creator to obtain. It also required Estepp to consider how the partnership fit with his identity as an independent NASCAR journalist.

“When NASCAR was like ‘Hey, we want to work with you on a project,’ I was wary at first because I’m like, ‘I’m supposed to be this independent journalist guy,’” Estepp said. “But they presented this idea of ‘We can get you the access to every race winner. We can get you access to all this footage,’ so I said, ‘Yeah, I love the idea of doing like a film breakdown’, and so it’s been really fun to do that this year.”

The project allows race winners to explain key moments from the competition while giving viewers a closer look at strategy, decision-making and on-track execution.

It also illustrates how independent sports media has evolved. YouTube creators and digital journalists increasingly reach audiences that once relied almost entirely on television broadcasts, newspapers and traditional sports websites.

Estepp’s success reflects that shift, but his work remains grounded in many of the same fundamentals taught in a high school media classroom: research carefully, write clearly, speak confidently and edit with purpose.

Behind the Daily Videos Is a Demanding Work Schedule

Although Estepp is quick to acknowledge that covering NASCAR is a dream job, the finished videos represent only a portion of the work.

Each day includes researching NASCAR updates, reviewing quotes and reports, writing scripts, filming and editing. During at least 38 of the 52 weekends each year, he is also watching races closely so he can explain the results, controversies and developments that follow.

The schedule requires consistency during the long NASCAR season, when stories can change quickly and audiences expect timely updates.

For students considering careers in YouTube production, sports journalism, digital media or broadcasting, Estepp’s experience shows that success as a content creator requires much more than turning on a camera. It also requires accuracy, preparation, technical knowledge and the discipline to publish dependable work day after day.

A Career That Inspires Pride at Cypress Creek High School

Estepp’s former teacher and classmates have watched a student project evolve into a recognized NASCAR media platform.

“He's one of those people who leaves an impact on everyone who meets him, and his time in my program was very special,” Bulloch said. “Seeing him go on to make a career for himself in media is both completely expected, and one of the most special things in the world.”

For Cypress Creek High School and the broader Cypress community, Estepp’s story highlights the lasting value of career and technical education programs. Courses in audio visual production, animation, photography and video editing can provide students with practical skills while helping them discover how their interests might fit into a professional future.

His career also demonstrates that a student does not have to live near a traditional industry center to build a meaningful place within it. A racing fan from Texas created his own platform, developed a distinct voice and gradually earned access to some of NASCAR’s most recognizable figures.

“I still pinch myself sometimes because I’m like, it is crazy,” Estepp said. “I mean, five years ago, this would have seemed somewhat far-fetched, so it is really cool. It’s an honor frankly, and I just try to do the best work I can every week.”

That commitment—to keep learning, keep producing and keep improving—has carried Estepp from a noisy childhood camera to a full-time career covering the sport he loves.

Stay tuned to My Neighborhood News for more stories highlighting Cypress-area students, graduates and educators making an impact in their communities and beyond.

By Tiffany Krenek, My Neighborhood News 

Tiffany Krenek has been on the My Neighborhood News team since August 2021. She is passionate about curating and sharing content that enriches the lives of our readers in a personal, meaningful way. A loving mother and wife, Tiffany and her family live in the West Houston/Cypress region.