diff --git a/controllers/constants.go b/controllers/constants.go
index 5b67026b..510fa911 100644
--- a/controllers/constants.go
+++ b/controllers/constants.go
@@ -61,4 +61,7 @@ const (
 	//
 	// See https://github.com/actions-runner-controller/actions-runner-controller/pull/1180
 	DefaultRunnerPodRecreationDelayAfterWebhookScale = 10 * time.Minute
+
+	EnvVarRunnerName  = "RUNNER_NAME"
+	EnvVarRunnerToken = "RUNNER_TOKEN"
 )
diff --git a/controllers/runner_controller.go b/controllers/runner_controller.go
index 19ee36aa..5811494b 100644
--- a/controllers/runner_controller.go
+++ b/controllers/runner_controller.go
@@ -453,19 +453,12 @@ func (r *RunnerReconciler) newPod(runner v1alpha1.Runner) (corev1.Pod, error) {
 func mutatePod(pod *corev1.Pod, token string) *corev1.Pod {
 	updated := pod.DeepCopy()
 
-	for i := range pod.Spec.Containers {
-		if pod.Spec.Containers[i].Name == "runner" {
-			updated.Spec.Containers[i].Env = append(updated.Spec.Containers[i].Env,
-				corev1.EnvVar{
-					Name:  "RUNNER_NAME",
-					Value: pod.ObjectMeta.Name,
-				},
-				corev1.EnvVar{
-					Name:  "RUNNER_TOKEN",
-					Value: token,
-				},
-			)
-		}
+	if getRunnerEnv(pod, EnvVarRunnerName) == "" {
+		setRunnerEnv(updated, EnvVarRunnerName, pod.ObjectMeta.Name)
+	}
+
+	if getRunnerEnv(pod, EnvVarRunnerToken) == "" {
+		setRunnerEnv(updated, EnvVarRunnerToken, token)
 	}
 
 	return updated
diff --git a/test/e2e/e2e_test.go b/test/e2e/e2e_test.go
index 7bbab05d..c2994d23 100644
--- a/test/e2e/e2e_test.go
+++ b/test/e2e/e2e_test.go
@@ -186,7 +186,7 @@ type env struct {
 	runnerLabel, githubToken, testRepo, testOrg, testOrgRepo string
 	githubTokenWebhook                                       string
 	testEnterprise                                           string
-	featureFlagEphemeral                                     bool
+	featureFlagEphemeral                                     *bool
 	scaleDownDelaySecondsAfterScaleOut                       int64
 	minReplicas                                              int64
 	dockerdWithinRunnerContainer                             bool
@@ -220,8 +220,11 @@ func initTestEnv(t *testing.T) *env {
 	e.testOrgRepo = testing.Getenv(t, "TEST_ORG_REPO", "")
 	e.testEnterprise = testing.Getenv(t, "TEST_ENTERPRISE")
 	e.testJobs = createTestJobs(id, testResultCMNamePrefix, 100)
-	ephemeral, _ := strconv.ParseBool(testing.Getenv(t, "TEST_FEATURE_FLAG_EPHEMERAL", ""))
-	e.featureFlagEphemeral = ephemeral
+
+	if ephemeral, err := strconv.ParseBool(testing.Getenv(t, "TEST_FEATURE_FLAG_EPHEMERAL", "")); err == nil {
+		e.featureFlagEphemeral = &ephemeral
+	}
+
 	e.scaleDownDelaySecondsAfterScaleOut, _ = strconv.ParseInt(testing.Getenv(t, "TEST_RUNNER_SCALE_DOWN_DELAY_SECONDS_AFTER_SCALE_OUT", "10"), 10, 32)
 	e.minReplicas, _ = strconv.ParseInt(testing.Getenv(t, "TEST_RUNNER_MIN_REPLICAS", "1"), 10, 32)
 
@@ -285,13 +288,16 @@ func (e *env) installActionsRunnerController(t *testing.T) {
 		"WEBHOOK_GITHUB_TOKEN=" + e.githubTokenWebhook,
 		"RUNNER_LABEL=" + e.runnerLabel,
 		"TEST_ID=" + e.testID,
-		fmt.Sprintf("RUNNER_FEATURE_FLAG_EPHEMERAL=%v", e.featureFlagEphemeral),
 		fmt.Sprintf("RUNNER_SCALE_DOWN_DELAY_SECONDS_AFTER_SCALE_OUT=%d", e.scaleDownDelaySecondsAfterScaleOut),
 		fmt.Sprintf("REPO_RUNNER_MIN_REPLICAS=%d", e.minReplicas),
 		fmt.Sprintf("ORG_RUNNER_MIN_REPLICAS=%d", e.minReplicas),
 		fmt.Sprintf("ENTERPRISE_RUNNER_MIN_REPLICAS=%d", e.minReplicas),
 	}
 
+	if e.featureFlagEphemeral != nil {
+		varEnv = append(varEnv, fmt.Sprintf("RUNNER_FEATURE_FLAG_EPHEMERAL=%v", *e.featureFlagEphemeral))
+	}
+
 	if e.useApp {
 		varEnv = append(varEnv,
 			"ACCEPTANCE_TEST_SECRET_TYPE=app",