The debut Southern Super Series race at Watermelon Capital Speedway will see one of the most dominant figures in track history join the field as defending XFINITY Series champion Chase Elliott has announced his entry into the Lyle Farms 100 presented by PFC Brakes.

While winning back-to-back XFINITY Series championships remains his primary focus, the upcoming off-weekend does allow for the 19-year-old top prospect to once again return to his roots, something he has already done several times this season.

Elliott has won the two most recent Super Late Model races at the speedway at Crisp County Motorsports Park in Cordele, Georgia, including two of the three CRA Speedfest events that have been held each January at the South Georgia speedplant.

With his second Southern Super Series start of the season, Elliott is looking to go three in a row at one of his de facto home tracks.

“I’m always excited to get a chance to go short track racing, but we really want to grow and improve our program.” Elliott told Race22.com on Tuesday morning. “So I hope this weekend is a step in the right side of the operation.”

Elliott plans to run a decent number of Super Late Model races this season before his schedule becomes considerably more hectic next year with his full-time graduation to the Sprint Cup Series. He is also looking to turn his No. 9 Super Late Model team into a development program for funded and talented young drivers.

The team is spearheaded by veteran crew chief and former Snowball Derby winning driver Ricky Turner.

Saturday will mark the seventh time Chase Elliott has participated in a Southern Super Series event. He has won twice in tour competition and is the 2010 champion of the Gulf Coast Series — the precursor to the expanded regional Super Late Model Tour.

He also competed this year in the season-opener at South Alabama Speedway in March, finishing third in the storied Rattler 250.

The Lyle Farms 100 will be the seventh of 13 races for the Southern Super Series. Texas driver Casey Smith will lead the tour into Cordele with a 36-point lead over Donnie Wilson of Oklahoma. Daniel Hemric, Casey Roderick and Garrett Jones complete the top-5 of a very competitive championship battle at the halfway point of the season.

The complete entry list will be released later in the week.