diff --git a/e2e/cse_timing.go b/e2e/cse_timing.go
index 6f8e3e8a681..3592ff0d005 100644
--- a/e2e/cse_timing.go
+++ b/e2e/cse_timing.go
@@ -13,11 +13,6 @@ import (
 )
 
 const (
-	// cseEventsDir is the directory where CSE task timing events are stored on the VM.
-	// This matches EVENTS_LOGGING_DIR defined in both cse_helpers.sh and cse_start.sh.
-	// Events are written directly here (not in per-handler subdirectories) — each file
-	// is a single-line JSON object named <epoch-ms>.json.
-	cseEventsDir = "/var/log/azure/Microsoft.Azure.Extensions.CustomScript/events/"
 	// provisionJSONPath is the path to the provision.json file with overall boot timing.
 	provisionJSONPath = "/var/log/azure/aks/provision.json"
 )
@@ -33,23 +28,23 @@ type CSETaskTiming struct {
 
 // CSEProvisionTiming represents the overall provisioning timing from provision.json.
 type CSEProvisionTiming struct {
-	ExitCode              string `json:"ExitCode"`
-	ExecDuration          string `json:"ExecDuration"`
-	KernelStartTime       string `json:"KernelStartTime"`
-	CloudInitLocalStart   string `json:"CloudInitLocalStartTime"`
-	CloudInitStart        string `json:"CloudInitStartTime"`
-	CloudFinalStart       string `json:"CloudFinalStartTime"`
-	CSEStartTime          string `json:"CSEStartTime"`
-	GuestAgentStartTime   string `json:"GuestAgentStartTime"`
-	SystemdSummary        string `json:"SystemdSummary"`
-	BootDatapoints        json.RawMessage `json:"BootDatapoints"`
+	ExitCode            string          `json:"ExitCode"`
+	ExecDuration        string          `json:"ExecDuration"`
+	KernelStartTime     string          `json:"KernelStartTime"`
+	CloudInitLocalStart string          `json:"CloudInitLocalStartTime"`
+	CloudInitStart      string          `json:"CloudInitStartTime"`
+	CloudFinalStart     string          `json:"CloudFinalStartTime"`
+	CSEStartTime        string          `json:"CSEStartTime"`
+	GuestAgentStartTime string          `json:"GuestAgentStartTime"`
+	SystemdSummary      string          `json:"SystemdSummary"`
+	BootDatapoints      json.RawMessage `json:"BootDatapoints"`
 }
 
 // CSETimingReport holds all parsed timing data from a VM.
 type CSETimingReport struct {
-	Tasks      []CSETaskTiming
-	Provision  *CSEProvisionTiming
-	taskIndex  map[string]*CSETaskTiming
+	Tasks     []CSETaskTiming
+	Provision *CSEProvisionTiming
+	taskIndex map[string]*CSETaskTiming
 }
 
 // cseEventJSON matches the JSON structure written by logs_to_events() in cse_helpers.sh.
@@ -128,12 +123,9 @@ func ExtractCSETimings(ctx context.Context, s *Scenario) (*CSETimingReport, erro
 
 	// Read all event JSON files from the CSE events directory, explicitly
 	// appending a newline after each file so each JSON document is separated.
-	// Search both the primary events directory and any handler-version subdirectories,
-	// as the Guest Agent may move events between these locations.
-	listCmd := fmt.Sprintf(
-		"sudo find %s /var/log/azure/Microsoft.Azure.Extensions.CustomScript/ -name '*.json' -path '*/events/*' -exec sh -c 'cat \"$1\"; echo' _ {} \\; 2>/dev/null",
-		cseEventsDir,
-	)
+	// Search the CustomScript directory tree for any events/ subdirectories,
+	// as the Guest Agent may store events in handler-version subdirectories.
+	listCmd := "sudo find /var/log/azure/Microsoft.Azure.Extensions.CustomScript/ -name '*.json' -path '*/events/*' -exec sh -c 'cat \"$1\"; echo' _ {} \\; 2>/dev/null"
 	result, err := execScriptOnVm(ctx, s, s.Runtime.VM, listCmd)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to read CSE events: %w", err)
diff --git a/e2e/kube.go b/e2e/kube.go
index b5f1fe18580..9650ab343bc 100644
--- a/e2e/kube.go
+++ b/e2e/kube.go
@@ -76,7 +76,7 @@ func getClusterKubeClient(ctx context.Context, cluster *armcontainerservice.Mana
 	}, nil
 }
 
-func (k *Kubeclient) WaitUntilPodRunningWithRetry(ctx context.Context, namespace string, labelSelector string, fieldSelector string, maxRetries int) (*corev1.Pod, error) {
+func (k *Kubeclient) WaitUntilPodRunning(ctx context.Context, namespace string, labelSelector string, fieldSelector string) (*corev1.Pod, error) {
 	defer toolkit.LogStepCtxf(ctx, "waiting for pod %s %s in %q namespace", labelSelector, fieldSelector, namespace)()
 	var pod *corev1.Pod
 
@@ -103,22 +103,6 @@ func (k *Kubeclient) WaitUntilPodRunningWithRetry(ctx context.Context, namespace
 			}
 		}
 
-		// Check for FailedCreatePodSandBox events
-		events, err := k.Typed.CoreV1().Events(pod.Namespace).List(ctx, metav1.ListOptions{FieldSelector: "involvedObject.name=" + pod.Name})
-		if err == nil {
-			for _, event := range events.Items {
-				if event.Reason == "FailedCreatePodSandBox" {
-					maxRetries--
-					sandboxErr := fmt.Errorf("pod %s has FailedCreatePodSandBox event: %s", pod.Name, event.Message)
-					if maxRetries <= 0 {
-						return false, sandboxErr
-					}
-					k.Typed.CoreV1().Pods(pod.Namespace).Delete(ctx, pod.Name, metav1.DeleteOptions{GracePeriodSeconds: to.Ptr(int64(0))})
-					return false, nil // Keep polling
-				}
-			}
-		}
-
 		switch pod.Status.Phase {
 		case corev1.PodFailed:
 			logPodDebugInfo(ctx, k, pod)
@@ -144,10 +128,6 @@ func (k *Kubeclient) WaitUntilPodRunningWithRetry(ctx context.Context, namespace
 	return pod, err
 }
 
-func (k *Kubeclient) WaitUntilPodRunning(ctx context.Context, namespace string, labelSelector string, fieldSelector string) (*corev1.Pod, error) {
-	return k.WaitUntilPodRunningWithRetry(ctx, namespace, labelSelector, fieldSelector, 0)
-}
-
 func (k *Kubeclient) WaitUntilNodeReady(ctx context.Context, t testing.TB, vmssName string) string {
 	defer toolkit.LogStepf(t, "waiting for node %s to be ready", vmssName)()
 	var lastNode *corev1.Node
@@ -201,7 +181,7 @@ func (k *Kubeclient) GetPodNetworkDebugPodForNode(ctx context.Context, kubeNodeN
 	if kubeNodeName == "" {
 		return nil, fmt.Errorf("kubeNodeName must not be empty")
 	}
-	return k.WaitUntilPodRunningWithRetry(ctx, defaultNamespace, fmt.Sprintf("app=%s", podNetworkDebugAppLabel), "spec.nodeName="+kubeNodeName, 3)
+	return k.WaitUntilPodRunning(ctx, defaultNamespace, fmt.Sprintf("app=%s", podNetworkDebugAppLabel), "spec.nodeName="+kubeNodeName)
 }
 
 func logPodDebugInfo(ctx context.Context, kube *Kubeclient, pod *corev1.Pod) {