diff --git a/staging/src/k8s.io/kubectl/pkg/util/podutils/podutils.go b/staging/src/k8s.io/kubectl/pkg/util/podutils/podutils.go
index 9e457f406d3..dfefdef4567 100644
--- a/staging/src/k8s.io/kubectl/pkg/util/podutils/podutils.go
+++ b/staging/src/k8s.io/kubectl/pkg/util/podutils/podutils.go
@@ -191,10 +191,7 @@ func podReadyTime(pod *corev1.Pod) *metav1.Time {
 	return &metav1.Time{}
 }
 
-// MaxContainerRestarts iterates through all the normal containers and sidecar
-// containers in a Pod object and reports the highest restart count observed per
-// category.
-func MaxContainerRestarts(pod *corev1.Pod) (regularRestarts, sidecarRestarts int) {
+func maxContainerRestarts(pod *corev1.Pod) (regularRestarts, sidecarRestarts int) {
 	for _, c := range pod.Status.ContainerStatuses {
 		regularRestarts = max(regularRestarts, int(c.RestartCount))
 	}
@@ -217,8 +214,8 @@ func MaxContainerRestarts(pod *corev1.Pod) (regularRestarts, sidecarRestarts int
 // false: pj has a higher container restart count.
 // nil: Both have the same container restart count.
 func compareMaxContainerRestarts(pi *corev1.Pod, pj *corev1.Pod) *bool {
-	regularRestartsI, sidecarRestartsI := MaxContainerRestarts(pi)
-	regularRestartsJ, sidecarRestartsJ := MaxContainerRestarts(pj)
+	regularRestartsI, sidecarRestartsI := maxContainerRestarts(pi)
+	regularRestartsJ, sidecarRestartsJ := maxContainerRestarts(pj)
 	if regularRestartsI != regularRestartsJ {
 		res := regularRestartsI > regularRestartsJ
 		return &res
diff --git a/test/e2e/framework/pod/wait.go b/test/e2e/framework/pod/wait.go
index 7a416c475c7..5cbaaab8a25 100644
--- a/test/e2e/framework/pod/wait.go
+++ b/test/e2e/framework/pod/wait.go
@@ -37,6 +37,7 @@ import (
 	apitypes "k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/types"
 	clientset "k8s.io/client-go/kubernetes"
 	"k8s.io/kubectl/pkg/util/podutils"
+	podv1util "k8s.io/kubernetes/pkg/api/v1/pod"
 	"k8s.io/kubernetes/test/e2e/framework"
 	testutils "k8s.io/kubernetes/test/utils"
 	"k8s.io/kubernetes/test/utils/format"
@@ -869,11 +870,14 @@ func WaitForContainerTerminated(ctx context.Context, c clientset.Interface, name
 	})
 }
 
-// WaitForContainerRestartedNTimes waits for a container in the Pod to have restarted N times
-func WaitForContainerRestartedNTimes(ctx context.Context, c clientset.Interface, namespace string, podName string, timeout time.Duration, target int) error {
+// WaitForContainerRestartedNTimes waits for the given normal container in the Pod to have restarted N times
+func WaitForContainerRestartedNTimes(ctx context.Context, c clientset.Interface, namespace string, podName string, containerName string, timeout time.Duration, target int) error {
 	conditionDesc := fmt.Sprintf("A container in pod %s restarted at least %d times", podName, target)
 	return WaitForPodCondition(ctx, c, namespace, podName, conditionDesc, timeout, func(pod *v1.Pod) (bool, error) {
-		r, _ := podutils.MaxContainerRestarts(pod)
-		return r >= target, nil
+		cs, found := podv1util.GetContainerStatus(pod.Status.ContainerStatuses, containerName)
+		if !found {
+			return false, fmt.Errorf("could not find container %s in  pod %s", containerName, podName)
+		}
+		return cs.RestartCount >= int32(target), nil
 	})
 }
diff --git a/test/e2e_node/container_restart_test.go b/test/e2e_node/container_restart_test.go
index 5fdbae30a11..5a2d530f3f2 100644
--- a/test/e2e_node/container_restart_test.go
+++ b/test/e2e_node/container_restart_test.go
@@ -97,7 +97,7 @@ func doTest(ctx context.Context, f *framework.Framework, targetRestarts int, con
 
 	// Hard wait 30 seconds for targetRestarts in the best case; longer timeout later will handle if infra was slow.
 	time.Sleep(30 * time.Second)
-	podErr = e2epod.WaitForContainerRestartedNTimes(ctx, f.ClientSet, f.Namespace.Name, pod.Name, 5*time.Minute, targetRestarts)
+	podErr = e2epod.WaitForContainerRestartedNTimes(ctx, f.ClientSet, f.Namespace.Name, pod.Name, containerName, 5*time.Minute, targetRestarts)
 	gomega.Expect(podErr).ShouldNot(gomega.HaveOccurred(), "Expected container to repeatedly back off container failures")
 
 	r, err := extractObservedBackoff(ctx, f, pod.Name, containerName)