diff --git a/pkg/kubelet/container/fake_runtime.go b/pkg/kubelet/container/fake_runtime.go
index b1b51ebfb15..ac10dbebd79 100644
--- a/pkg/kubelet/container/fake_runtime.go
+++ b/pkg/kubelet/container/fake_runtime.go
@@ -165,7 +165,7 @@ func (f *FakeRuntime) GetPods(all bool) ([]*Pod, error) {
 	return f.PodList, f.Err
 }
 
-func (f *FakeRuntime) SyncPod(pod *api.Pod, _ Pod, _ api.PodStatus, _ *PodStatus, _ []api.Secret, backOff *util.Backoff) error {
+func (f *FakeRuntime) SyncPod(pod *api.Pod, _ api.PodStatus, _ *PodStatus, _ []api.Secret, backOff *util.Backoff) error {
 	f.Lock()
 	defer f.Unlock()
 
diff --git a/pkg/kubelet/container/runtime.go b/pkg/kubelet/container/runtime.go
index 2e334a0e29c..bc8a3b36a8d 100644
--- a/pkg/kubelet/container/runtime.go
+++ b/pkg/kubelet/container/runtime.go
@@ -89,8 +89,7 @@ type Runtime interface {
 	// GarbageCollect removes dead containers using the specified container gc policy
 	GarbageCollect(gcPolicy ContainerGCPolicy) error
 	// Syncs the running pod into the desired pod.
-	// TODO(random-liu): The runningPod will be removed after #17420 is done.
-	SyncPod(pod *api.Pod, runningPod Pod, apiPodStatus api.PodStatus, podStatus *PodStatus, pullSecrets []api.Secret, backOff *util.Backoff) error
+	SyncPod(pod *api.Pod, apiPodStatus api.PodStatus, podStatus *PodStatus, pullSecrets []api.Secret, backOff *util.Backoff) error
 	// KillPod kills all the containers of a pod. Pod may be nil, running pod must not be.
 	KillPod(pod *api.Pod, runningPod Pod) error
 	// GetAPIPodStatus retrieves the api.PodStatus of the pod, including the information of
diff --git a/pkg/kubelet/dockertools/manager.go b/pkg/kubelet/dockertools/manager.go
index dd9e38020ea..5ce6a6961a3 100644
--- a/pkg/kubelet/dockertools/manager.go
+++ b/pkg/kubelet/dockertools/manager.go
@@ -1749,7 +1749,7 @@ func (dm *DockerManager) clearReasonCache(pod *api.Pod, container *api.Container
 }
 
 // Sync the running pod to match the specified desired pod.
-func (dm *DockerManager) SyncPod(pod *api.Pod, _ kubecontainer.Pod, _ api.PodStatus, podStatus *kubecontainer.PodStatus, pullSecrets []api.Secret, backOff *util.Backoff) error {
+func (dm *DockerManager) SyncPod(pod *api.Pod, _ api.PodStatus, podStatus *kubecontainer.PodStatus, pullSecrets []api.Secret, backOff *util.Backoff) error {
 	start := time.Now()
 	defer func() {
 		metrics.ContainerManagerLatency.WithLabelValues("SyncPod").Observe(metrics.SinceInMicroseconds(start))
diff --git a/pkg/kubelet/dockertools/manager_test.go b/pkg/kubelet/dockertools/manager_test.go
index af3a4707656..75ec8927795 100644
--- a/pkg/kubelet/dockertools/manager_test.go
+++ b/pkg/kubelet/dockertools/manager_test.go
@@ -542,12 +542,6 @@ func generatePodInfraContainerHash(pod *api.Pod) uint64 {
 // runSyncPod is a helper function to retrieve the running pods from the fake
 // docker client and runs SyncPod for the given pod.
 func runSyncPod(t *testing.T, dm *DockerManager, fakeDocker *FakeDockerClient, pod *api.Pod, backOff *util.Backoff, expectErr bool) {
-	runningPods, err := dm.GetPods(false)
-	if err != nil {
-		t.Fatalf("unexpected error: %v", err)
-	}
-	runningPod := kubecontainer.Pods(runningPods).FindPodByID(pod.UID)
-
 	podStatus, apiPodStatus, err := dm.GetPodStatusAndAPIPodStatus(pod)
 	if err != nil {
 		t.Errorf("unexpected error: %v", err)
@@ -556,7 +550,7 @@ func runSyncPod(t *testing.T, dm *DockerManager, fakeDocker *FakeDockerClient, p
 	if backOff == nil {
 		backOff = util.NewBackOff(time.Second, time.Minute)
 	}
-	err = dm.SyncPod(pod, runningPod, *apiPodStatus, podStatus, []api.Secret{}, backOff)
+	err = dm.SyncPod(pod, *apiPodStatus, podStatus, []api.Secret{}, backOff)
 	if err != nil && !expectErr {
 		t.Errorf("unexpected error: %v", err)
 	} else if err == nil && expectErr {
diff --git a/pkg/kubelet/kubelet.go b/pkg/kubelet/kubelet.go
index d206e0409b3..7bc7d5c9a97 100644
--- a/pkg/kubelet/kubelet.go
+++ b/pkg/kubelet/kubelet.go
@@ -1741,7 +1741,7 @@ func (kl *Kubelet) syncPod(pod *api.Pod, mirrorPod *api.Pod, runningPod kubecont
 		return err
 	}
 
-	err = kl.containerRuntime.SyncPod(pod, runningPod, apiPodStatus, podStatus, pullSecrets, kl.backOff)
+	err = kl.containerRuntime.SyncPod(pod, apiPodStatus, podStatus, pullSecrets, kl.backOff)
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
diff --git a/pkg/kubelet/rkt/rkt.go b/pkg/kubelet/rkt/rkt.go
index b90d6fa3288..8a4f03fb405 100644
--- a/pkg/kubelet/rkt/rkt.go
+++ b/pkg/kubelet/rkt/rkt.go
@@ -938,7 +938,11 @@ func (r *Runtime) Version() (kubecontainer.Version, error) {
 }
 
 // SyncPod syncs the running pod to match the specified desired pod.
-func (r *Runtime) SyncPod(pod *api.Pod, runningPod kubecontainer.Pod, podStatus api.PodStatus, _ *kubecontainer.PodStatus, pullSecrets []api.Secret, backOff *util.Backoff) error {
+func (r *Runtime) SyncPod(pod *api.Pod, podStatus api.PodStatus, internalPodStatus *kubecontainer.PodStatus, pullSecrets []api.Secret, backOff *util.Backoff) error {
+	// TODO: (random-liu) Stop using running pod in SyncPod()
+	// TODO: (random-liu) Rename podStatus to apiPodStatus, rename internalPodStatus to podStatus, and use new pod status as much as possible,
+	// we may stop using apiPodStatus someday.
+	runningPod := kubecontainer.ConvertPodStatusToRunningPod(internalPodStatus)
 	// Add references to all containers.
 	unidentifiedContainers := make(map[kubecontainer.ContainerID]*kubecontainer.Container)
 	for _, c := range runningPod.Containers {