diff --git a/test/e2e/framework/test_context.go b/test/e2e/framework/test_context.go
index 832e51706bf..344601cb539 100644
--- a/test/e2e/framework/test_context.go
+++ b/test/e2e/framework/test_context.go
@@ -229,6 +229,8 @@ type NodeTestContextType struct {
 	// the node e2e test. If empty, the default one (system.DefaultSpec) is
 	// used. The system specs are in test/e2e_node/system/specs/.
 	SystemSpecName string
+	// RestartKubelet restarts Kubelet unit when the process is killed.
+	RestartKubelet bool
 	// ExtraEnvs is a map of environment names to values.
 	ExtraEnvs map[string]string
 }
diff --git a/test/e2e_node/e2e_node_suite_test.go b/test/e2e_node/e2e_node_suite_test.go
index 900e009442e..5206167129c 100644
--- a/test/e2e_node/e2e_node_suite_test.go
+++ b/test/e2e_node/e2e_node_suite_test.go
@@ -80,6 +80,7 @@ func registerNodeFlags(flags *flag.FlagSet) {
 	// It is hard and unnecessary to deal with the complexity inside the test suite.
 	flags.BoolVar(&framework.TestContext.NodeConformance, "conformance", false, "If true, the test suite will not start kubelet, and fetch system log (kernel, docker, kubelet log etc.) to the report directory.")
 	flags.BoolVar(&framework.TestContext.PrepullImages, "prepull-images", true, "If true, prepull images so image pull failures do not cause test failures.")
+	flags.BoolVar(&framework.TestContext.RestartKubelet, "restart-kubelet", true, "If true, restart Kubelet unit when the process is killed.")
 	flags.StringVar(&framework.TestContext.ImageDescription, "image-description", "", "The description of the image which the test will be running on.")
 	flags.StringVar(&framework.TestContext.SystemSpecName, "system-spec-name", "", "The name of the system spec (e.g., gke) that's used in the node e2e test. The system specs are in test/e2e_node/system/specs/. This is used by the test framework to determine which tests to run for validating the system requirements.")
 	flags.Var(cliflag.NewMapStringString(&framework.TestContext.ExtraEnvs), "extra-envs", "The extra environment variables needed for node e2e tests. Format: a list of key=value pairs, e.g., env1=val1,env2=val2")
diff --git a/test/e2e_node/services/kubelet.go b/test/e2e_node/services/kubelet.go
index 44a7e33bac1..089620c3511 100644
--- a/test/e2e_node/services/kubelet.go
+++ b/test/e2e_node/services/kubelet.go
@@ -301,6 +301,7 @@ func (e *E2EServices) startKubelet() (*server, error) {
 	}
 
 	cmd := exec.Command(cmdArgs[0], cmdArgs[1:]...)
+	restartOnExit := framework.TestContext.RestartKubelet
 	server := newServer(
 		"kubelet",
 		cmd,
@@ -309,7 +310,7 @@ func (e *E2EServices) startKubelet() (*server, error) {
 		[]string{kubeletHealthCheckURL},
 		"kubelet.log",
 		e.monitorParent,
-		true /* restartOnExit */)
+		restartOnExit)
 	return server, server.start()
 }