- Increase timeout for pod lifecycle test to reach pod status=ready ([#96691](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/96691), [@hh](https://github.com/hh))
- Increased `CSINodeIDMaxLength` from 128 bytes to 192 bytes. ([#98753](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/98753), [@Jiawei0227](https://github.com/Jiawei0227))

- Kube-apiserver: fixed a 1.28 regression printing pods with invalid initContainer status. ([#124906](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/124906), [@liggitt](https://github.com/liggitt))

- Improve func `ToSelectableFields`' performance for event. ([#102461](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/102461), [@goodluckbot](https://github.com/goodluckbot))
- Increased `CSINodeIDMaxLength` from 128 bytes to 192 bytes. Prepare to increase the length limit to 256 bytes in 1.23 release. ([#101256](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/101256), [@Jiawei0227](https://github.com/Jiawei0227))

- Fixed #118052: nodeAffinity on pods can change prior to scheduling gates being removed even when podSpec.affinity is nil in the initial spec, this matches the 1.28 behavior to allow consistent integrators to be written. ([#118199](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/118199), [@aleskandro](https://github.com/aleskandro)) [SIG Apps, Scheduling and Testing]