Mark Martin started from the pole position and ran the first 215 laps in the top 10 during Sunday's NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

But on lap 216, the right-rear tire on the No. 5 Kellogg's/CARQUEST Chevrolet ran over debris on the racetrack, which sent the car hard into the turn 4 wall.

The team made the necessary repairs on pit road, saving time by not going to the garage, but still dropped several laps to the leaders. When Mark re-entered the track on lap 216 he was in 33rd place.

Goodyear tire officials located the tire's  "carcass" and, after further review, determined that the Chevy had ran over some sort of debris on the track, which punctured the tire.

"This kind of luck cannot continue. It just can't," Mark said over the radio to his team afterward. "You guys gave me an incredible race car. We were great today. And that's all any of us can ask for.

"You did a great job of fixing it, too, on pit road," he added. "You were fast and thorough. Thank you."

Team owner Rick Hendrick also chimed in on the radio, thanking the team members for their hard work and encouraging them that a victory is near.

"You guys are one of the best, if not the best, car at the track every weekend," Rick said. "We're going to win some races this year."

The Kellogg's/CARQUEST team's weekend started well, with Mark earning his 42nd career pole, making him only the second driver older than age 50 to earn a Sprint Cup pole. The pole also marked his first in nearly eight years and the team's first in nearly two.

Mark backed-up his qualifying time with the ninth-fastest lap time during Saturday's final practice session. During the two on-track sessions that day, he reported to the team that the Chevy was nearly perfect in turns 1 and 2, but slightly loose in 3 and 4.

When the green-flag waved on Sunday, Mark led the field, earning five valuable points and marking the third of four races this season in which he's led at least one lap. The Chevy remained great in the first two turns, but was now slightly tight-handling in turns 3 and 4.

To combat the handling issue, the team made trackbar adjustments during its first two pit stops. The stops were quick, and the pit crew kept Mark inside the top-10 both times, even under green-flag conditions.

Only two laps after the team's second stop, the caution flag waved for a runaway tire on pit road. The untimely caution left only six cars on the lead lap. Mark was the first car one lap down, running in seventh place. When the race resumed, he started in front of the leaders, on the tail end of the lead lap.

Mark held onto his position and, in clean air, pulled away from the leaders. When the caution flag finally waved on lap 102, Mark, who had remained in front of the leaders throughout the green-flag run, was able to circle back around to the leaders, in seventh place.

From that point on, Mark kept moving forward. Following a pit stop on lap 159, Mark radioed to the team that the Kellogg's/CARQUEST Chevrolet was "great" and with a good finish, the team could finally get the start to the season it deserved.

Less than 60 laps later, however, the team's hopes of that good finish faded when the Chevy backed hard into the outside retaining wall. With a shredded right rear tire, Mark entered pit road, where the crew's quick actions kept the team from retreating to the garage area.

Mark returned to the track and salvaged a 31st-place finish.