Hendrick Motorsports named Almirola a standby driver for the No. 48 team in case Jimmie Johnson needed to leave for the birth of his daughter. Almirola was not needed. In July 2010, Almirola was again a standby driver for Hendrick Motorsports at Pocono in case Jeff Gordon had to leave or miss the race due to the birth of Gordon's son. At Loudon, he was standby for a sick Scott Speed. He drove the No. 9 Richard Petty Motorsports Ford at Martinsville Speedway in Fall 2010 after Kasey Kahne was released from his contract. Almirola had his first Sprint Cup Top 5 finish at Homestead. At Talladega in the fall, he ended up in the closest finish in truck series history by ending up second to Kyle Busch in 0.002 of a second, who passed underneath Almirola below the yellow line. The 1-2 finish was the same as the previous race in 2009 but the finish was controversial because of the yellow line rules (as NASCAR rules state that a driver must not advance his position by going below the yellow line even if he is forced down there). But officials determined that Busch had the lead before going below the yellow line thus making Busch's winning move legal.