diff --git a/test/e2e_node/node_container_manager_test.go b/test/e2e_node/node_container_manager_test.go
index ce66ac65c48..6761e195a3b 100644
--- a/test/e2e_node/node_container_manager_test.go
+++ b/test/e2e_node/node_container_manager_test.go
@@ -98,19 +98,10 @@ var _ = SIGDescribe("Node Container Manager", framework.WithSerial(), func() {
 			ginkgo.DeferCleanup(func(ctx context.Context) {
 				if oldCfg != nil {
 					// Update the Kubelet configuration.
-					ginkgo.By("Stopping the kubelet")
-					startKubelet := stopKubelet()
-
-					// wait until the kubelet health check will fail
-					gomega.Eventually(ctx, func() bool {
-						return kubeletHealthCheck(kubeletHealthCheckURL)
-					}).WithTimeout(time.Minute).WithPolling(time.Second).Should(gomega.BeFalseBecause("expected kubelet health check to be failed"))
-					ginkgo.By("Stopped the kubelet")
-
 					framework.ExpectNoError(e2enodekubelet.WriteKubeletConfigFile(oldCfg))
 
-					ginkgo.By("Starting the kubelet")
-					startKubelet()
+					ginkgo.By("Restarting the kubelet")
+					restartKubelet(true)
 
 					// wait until the kubelet health check will succeed
 					gomega.Eventually(ctx, func(ctx context.Context) bool {
@@ -127,23 +118,14 @@ var _ = SIGDescribe("Node Container Manager", framework.WithSerial(), func() {
 			newCfg.FailCgroupV1 = true // extra safety. We want to avoid false negatives though, so we added the skip check earlier
 
 			// Update the Kubelet configuration.
-			ginkgo.By("Stopping the kubelet")
-			startKubelet := stopKubelet()
-
-			// wait until the kubelet health check will fail
-			gomega.Eventually(ctx, func() bool {
-				return kubeletHealthCheck(kubeletHealthCheckURL)
-			}).WithTimeout(time.Minute).WithPolling(time.Second).Should(gomega.BeFalseBecause("expected kubelet health check to be failed"))
-			ginkgo.By("Stopped the kubelet")
-
 			framework.ExpectNoError(e2enodekubelet.WriteKubeletConfigFile(newCfg))
 
-			ginkgo.By("Starting the kubelet")
-			startKubelet()
+			ginkgo.By("Restarting the kubelet")
+			restartKubelet(true)
 
 			// wait until the kubelet health check will succeed
-			gomega.Eventually(ctx, func() bool {
-				return getNodeReadyStatus(ctx, f) && kubeletHealthCheck(kubeletHealthCheckURL)
+			gomega.Eventually(ctx, func(ctx context.Context) bool {
+				return kubeletHealthCheck(kubeletHealthCheckURL)
 			}).WithTimeout(2 * time.Minute).WithPolling(5 * time.Second).Should(gomega.BeTrueBecause("expected kubelet to be in healthy state"))
 			ginkgo.By("Started the kubelet")