diff --git a/pkg/kubelet/kuberuntime/kuberuntime_manager_test.go b/pkg/kubelet/kuberuntime/kuberuntime_manager_test.go
index 9baaf1a3608..b536dcea9cf 100644
--- a/pkg/kubelet/kuberuntime/kuberuntime_manager_test.go
+++ b/pkg/kubelet/kuberuntime/kuberuntime_manager_test.go
@@ -1260,6 +1260,11 @@ func verifyActions(t *testing.T, expected, actual *podActions, desc string) {
 			actual.ContainersToKill[k] = info
 		}
 	}
+
+	if expected.ContainersToUpdate == nil && actual.ContainersToUpdate != nil {
+		// No need to distinguish empty and nil maps for the test.
+		expected.ContainersToUpdate = map[v1.ResourceName][]containerToUpdateInfo{}
+	}
 	assert.Equal(t, expected, actual, desc)
 }
 
diff --git a/pkg/kubelet/status/status_manager.go b/pkg/kubelet/status/status_manager.go
index 3da131d5392..60e4c0115b6 100644
--- a/pkg/kubelet/status/status_manager.go
+++ b/pkg/kubelet/status/status_manager.go
@@ -179,6 +179,7 @@ func NewManager(kubeClient clientset.Interface, podManager PodManager, podDeleti
 		podDeletionSafety:       podDeletionSafety,
 		podStartupLatencyHelper: podStartupLatencyHelper,
 		stateFileDirectory:      stateFileDirectory,
+		state:                   state.NewNoopStateCheckpoint(),
 	}
 }
 
@@ -202,9 +203,6 @@ func isPodStatusByKubeletEqual(oldStatus, status *v1.PodStatus) bool {
 }
 
 func (m *manager) Start() {
-	// Initialize m.state to no-op state checkpoint manager
-	m.state = state.NewNoopStateCheckpoint()
-
 	// Create pod allocation checkpoint manager even if client is nil so as to allow local get/set of AllocatedResources & Resize
 	if utilfeature.DefaultFeatureGate.Enabled(features.InPlacePodVerticalScaling) {
 		stateImpl, err := state.NewStateCheckpoint(m.stateFileDirectory, podStatusManagerStateFile)