“Let the games begin,” Pro Football Hall of Fame running back and “Dancing With the Stars: All-Stars” contestant Emmitt Smith said with relief of Week 1 of the ballroom dance competition complete.

Opening-night jitters are out of the way and Week 2 offers new opportunities to impress the three-judge panel and TV viewers/voters. Helio Castroneves and his professional dance partner, Chelsie Hightower, will dance the Jive on the ABC show Oct. 1 (8 p.m. ET).

Click it: Watch Team Helio's Foxtrot from Week 1 || Team Helio's ABC page

“It’s going to be a very fun, fast-paced, upbeat dance,” Hightower said of Team Helio’s Week 2 assignment.

The couple returned to the rehearsal studio in Los Angeles early on Sept. 26 following the Sept. 25 results show, during which actress Pamela Anderson was the first of the 13 stars to be dropped from the competition.

Castroneves and Hightower received 21.5 of 30 points from the three-judge panel for their Foxtrot in Week 1.

"The first week is so great because it's really telling; it tells you where you're at and what your challenges are," Hightower said. "So next week we know how to attack it."

Fan voting comprises the other half of a couple's score, and the couple with the lowest total each week says goodbye.

"Certainly we are going to need a lot of votes because it's going to be an amazing season," Castroneves said. “I encourage everyone to vote every week and often."

Here’s how to vote for Team Helio (the number of votes per method corresponds to the number of contestants left … i.e. 12 for Week 2):

• By phone at 1-800-868-3404 from the start of the show until 60 minutes after the program ends
• By texting VOTE to 3404 (AT&T customers only) from start of show until 60 minutes after program ends
• At www.facebook.com/dancingwiththestars
• Online at www.abc.go.com (email validation is required after clicking JOIN at top of homepage) from the start of the show until 11 a.m. (ET) the next day for U.S. and Canadian residents.
• International fans also can vote for Team Helio online. Here's how: When you go to www.abc.go.com and click JOIN to register an account, enter a U.S. zip code. Click this link to find a zip code (http://www.mapsofworld.com/usa/zipcodes/). Remember to adjust your voting time to the deadline of 11 a.m. (ET) Tuesdays.

Coming off the grueling IZOD IndyCar Series season, Castroneves is in prime physical condition for the rigors of learning a new routine weekly in rehearsal.

“We rehearse a lot; more than four hours a day,” said Castroneves, who won Season 5 of the competition in the fall of 2007. “Obviously I’ve been here before so we know we don’t want to overdo it. At the same time, you want to make sure that you have the steps in. (Hightower) is amazing. I told her to push me to the next level and that's what she's trying to do.”

The Team Penske driver recalled that “Jive wasn’t one of my very strong dances five years ago. It was not bad, but it wasn’t strong and hopefully Chelsie can help me out and improve me.”

Castroneves and his professional dance partner, Julianne Hough, received 24 of the possible 30 points for the Jive in Week 3 of the Season 5 competition and improved that total by one in Week 10. The couple really hit its stride in Weeks 8 and 9 with three consecutive dances that received the maximum 30 points – kicking off with the rousing Quickstep (remember the yellow zoot suit?).

"We've done it a few times in rehearsals already, so it's going to be about cleaning, polishing and making it the best Jive he's ever done," Hightower said.

On the Season 15 premiere Sept. 24, Arie Luyendyk Jr. and Jef Holm – the final two contestants on the most recent airing of “The Bachelorette” on ABC – were in the audience cheering on Team Helio. Castroneves’ daughter, Mikaella (who turns 3 in December), and her mother, Adriana Henao, might be audience members in Week 2.

“I spoke with them and my little girl was jumping and watching (on TV), saying ‘Daddy!’ ” Castroneves said.

Castroneves told PEOPLE magazine this week that his daughter "... is always playing with race cars. I’d love her to play with Barbie dolls and make them dance, so she can focus on dancing, too.”