diff --git a/lib/promscrape/discovery/kubernetes/api.go b/lib/promscrape/discovery/kubernetes/api.go
index 8afa6b6136..fa39666a8b 100644
--- a/lib/promscrape/discovery/kubernetes/api.go
+++ b/lib/promscrape/discovery/kubernetes/api.go
@@ -14,14 +14,6 @@ type apiConfig struct {
 	aw *apiWatcher
 }
 
-func (ac *apiConfig) mustStart() {
-	ac.aw.mustStart()
-}
-
-func (ac *apiConfig) mustStop() {
-	ac.aw.mustStop()
-}
-
 func newAPIConfig(sdc *SDConfig, baseDir string, swcFunc ScrapeWorkConstructorFunc) (*apiConfig, error) {
 	switch sdc.Role {
 	case "node", "pod", "service", "endpoints", "endpointslices", "ingress":
diff --git a/lib/promscrape/discovery/kubernetes/kubernetes.go b/lib/promscrape/discovery/kubernetes/kubernetes.go
index 28160743bc..ea827b47a3 100644
--- a/lib/promscrape/discovery/kubernetes/kubernetes.go
+++ b/lib/promscrape/discovery/kubernetes/kubernetes.go
@@ -67,6 +67,6 @@ func (sdc *SDConfig) MustStart(baseDir string, swcFunc ScrapeWorkConstructorFunc
 func (sdc *SDConfig) MustStop() {
 	if sdc.cfg != nil {
 		// sdc.cfg can be nil on MustStart error.
-		sdc.cfg.mustStop()
+		sdc.cfg.aw.mustStop()
 	}
 }