diff --git a/cmd/nvidia-dra-plugin/driver.go b/cmd/nvidia-dra-plugin/driver.go
index d3c5bed4..99c5d8f6 100644
--- a/cmd/nvidia-dra-plugin/driver.go
+++ b/cmd/nvidia-dra-plugin/driver.go
@@ -83,7 +83,10 @@ func NewDriver(ctx context.Context, config *Config) (*driver, error) {
 	return driver, nil
 }
 
-func (d *driver) Shutdown(ctx context.Context) error {
+func (d *driver) Shutdown() error {
+	if d == nil {
+		return nil
+	}
 	d.plugin.Stop()
 	return nil
 }
diff --git a/cmd/nvidia-dra-plugin/main.go b/cmd/nvidia-dra-plugin/main.go
index 2fbdc07a..ab5bd585 100644
--- a/cmd/nvidia-dra-plugin/main.go
+++ b/cmd/nvidia-dra-plugin/main.go
@@ -183,19 +183,24 @@ func StartPlugin(ctx context.Context, config *Config) error {
 		return fmt.Errorf("path for cdi file generation is not a directory: '%v'", config.flags.cdiRoot)
 	}
 
-	driver, err := NewDriver(ctx, config)
-	if err != nil {
-		return err
-	}
-
-	sigc := make(chan os.Signal, 1)
-	signal.Notify(sigc, syscall.SIGHUP, syscall.SIGINT, syscall.SIGTERM, syscall.SIGQUIT)
-	<-sigc
+	sigs := make(chan os.Signal, 1)
+	signal.Notify(sigs, syscall.SIGHUP, syscall.SIGINT, syscall.SIGTERM, syscall.SIGQUIT)
+
+	var driver *driver
+	ctx, cancel := context.WithCancel(ctx)
+	defer func() {
+		cancel()
+		if err := driver.Shutdown(); err != nil {
+			klog.Errorf("Unable to cleanly shutdown driver: %v", err)
+		}
+	}()
 
-	err = driver.Shutdown(ctx)
+	driver, err = NewDriver(ctx, config)
 	if err != nil {
-		klog.Errorf("Unable to cleanly shutdown driver: %v", err)
+		return fmt.Errorf("error creating driver: %w", err)
 	}
 
+	<-sigs
+
 	return nil
 }
diff --git a/deployments/helm/k8s-dra-driver/templates/kubeletplugin.yaml b/deployments/helm/k8s-dra-driver/templates/kubeletplugin.yaml
index ec9976af..cf9ddecb 100644
--- a/deployments/helm/k8s-dra-driver/templates/kubeletplugin.yaml
+++ b/deployments/helm/k8s-dra-driver/templates/kubeletplugin.yaml
@@ -56,7 +56,6 @@ spec:
         command: ["bash", "-c"]
         args:
         - |-
-          trap 'exit 0' TERM
           # TODO: Masking of the params file is done below to allow nvkind to
           # selectively exclude certain GPUs from being visible to the driver.
           # At present, this is only feasible with a host-mounted driver where
@@ -69,8 +68,7 @@ spec:
             sed -i 's/^ModifyDeviceFiles: 1$/ModifyDeviceFiles: 0/' root/gpu-params
             mount --bind root/gpu-params /proc/driver/nvidia/params
           fi
-          nvidia-dra-plugin &
-          wait
+          nvidia-dra-plugin
         resources:
           {{- toYaml .Values.kubeletPlugin.containers.plugin.resources | nindent 10 }}
         env: