diff --git a/test/e2e/apps/daemon_restart.go b/test/e2e/apps/daemon_restart.go
index c9845b143d1..ab8d9e34f7d 100644
--- a/test/e2e/apps/daemon_restart.go
+++ b/test/e2e/apps/daemon_restart.go
@@ -216,7 +216,6 @@ var _ = SIGDescribe("DaemonRestart [Disruptive]", func() {
 	var config testutils.RCConfig
 	var controller cache.Controller
 	var newPods cache.Store
-	var stopCh chan struct{}
 	var tracker *podTracker
 
 	ginkgo.BeforeEach(func(ctx context.Context) {
@@ -237,18 +236,21 @@ var _ = SIGDescribe("DaemonRestart [Disruptive]", func() {
 		framework.ExpectNoError(e2erc.RunRC(ctx, config))
 		replacePods(*config.CreatedPods, existingPods)
 
-		stopCh = make(chan struct{})
+		// The following code continues to run after the BeforeEach and thus
+		// must not use ctx.
+		backgroundCtx, cancel := context.WithCancel(context.Background())
+		ginkgo.DeferCleanup(cancel)
 		tracker = newPodTracker()
 		newPods, controller = cache.NewInformer(
 			&cache.ListWatch{
 				ListFunc: func(options metav1.ListOptions) (runtime.Object, error) {
 					options.LabelSelector = labelSelector.String()
-					obj, err := f.ClientSet.CoreV1().Pods(ns).List(ctx, options)
+					obj, err := f.ClientSet.CoreV1().Pods(ns).List(backgroundCtx, options)
 					return runtime.Object(obj), err
 				},
 				WatchFunc: func(options metav1.ListOptions) (watch.Interface, error) {
 					options.LabelSelector = labelSelector.String()
-					return f.ClientSet.CoreV1().Pods(ns).Watch(ctx, options)
+					return f.ClientSet.CoreV1().Pods(ns).Watch(backgroundCtx, options)
 				},
 			},
 			&v1.Pod{},
@@ -265,11 +267,7 @@ var _ = SIGDescribe("DaemonRestart [Disruptive]", func() {
 				},
 			},
 		)
-		go controller.Run(stopCh)
-	})
-
-	ginkgo.AfterEach(func() {
-		close(stopCh)
+		go controller.Run(backgroundCtx.Done())
 	})
 
 	ginkgo.It("Controller Manager should not create/delete replicas across restart", func(ctx context.Context) {