diff --git a/.github/workflows/kindIntegTest.yml b/.github/workflows/kindIntegTest.yml
index 4baae2c47..0548447ec 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/kindIntegTest.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/kindIntegTest.yml
@@ -168,7 +168,7 @@ jobs:
           - webhook_validation
           # Three worker tests:
           - canary_upgrade
-          # - config_change_condition # config_change takes care of testing the same
+          - config_change_condition
           #- cdc_successful # OSS only
           # - delete_node_lost_readiness # DSE specific behavior
           - host_network
diff --git a/.github/workflows/workflow-integration-tests.yaml b/.github/workflows/workflow-integration-tests.yaml
index bb36d1e7e..cdb5b537b 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/workflow-integration-tests.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/workflow-integration-tests.yaml
@@ -183,7 +183,7 @@ jobs:
           - webhook_validation
           # Three worker tests:
           # - canary_upgrade # See kind_40_tests job
-          # - config_change_condition # config_change takes care of the same testing
+          - config_change_condition
           # - cdc_successful # CDC is OSS only , see kind_311_tests and kind_40_tests jobs
           # - delete_node_lost_readiness # DSE specific behavior see kind_dse_tests job
           - host_network
diff --git a/pkg/reconciliation/reconcile_racks.go b/pkg/reconciliation/reconcile_racks.go
index bdf48fe94..5592d7a74 100644
--- a/pkg/reconciliation/reconcile_racks.go
+++ b/pkg/reconciliation/reconcile_racks.go
@@ -173,7 +173,7 @@ func (rc *ReconciliationContext) failureModeDetection() bool {
 			continue
 		}
 		if pod.Status.Phase == corev1.PodPending {
-			if hasBeenXMinutes(5, pod.Status.StartTime.Time) {
+			if pod.Status.StartTime == nil || hasBeenXMinutes(5, pod.Status.StartTime.Time) {
 				// Pod has been over 5 minutes in Pending state. This can be normal, but lets see
 				// if we have some detected failures events like FailedScheduling
 				events := &corev1.EventList{}
diff --git a/tests/config_change_condition/config_change_condition_suite_test.go b/tests/config_change_condition/config_change_condition_suite_test.go
index 3a2a26d11..23c3dd869 100644
--- a/tests/config_change_condition/config_change_condition_suite_test.go
+++ b/tests/config_change_condition/config_change_condition_suite_test.go
@@ -18,12 +18,13 @@ import (
 )
 
 var (
-	testName   = "Config change condition"
-	namespace  = "test-config-change-condition"
-	dcName     = "dc2"
-	dcYaml     = "../testdata/default-single-rack-2-node-dc.yaml"
-	dcResource = fmt.Sprintf("CassandraDatacenter/%s", dcName)
-	ns         = ginkgo_util.NewWrapper(testName, namespace)
+	testName    = "Config change condition with failure"
+	namespace   = "test-config-change-condition"
+	dcName      = "dc1"
+	clusterName = "cluster1"
+	dcYaml      = "../testdata/default-three-rack-three-node-dc-zones.yaml"
+	dcResource  = fmt.Sprintf("CassandraDatacenter/%s", dcName)
+	ns          = ginkgo_util.NewWrapper(testName, namespace)
 )
 
 func TestLifecycle(t *testing.T) {
@@ -55,22 +56,33 @@ var _ = Describe(testName, func() {
 
 			ns.WaitForOperatorReady()
 
-			step := "creating a datacenter resource with 1 racks/2 nodes"
+			step := "creating a datacenter resource with 3 racks/3 nodes using unavailable zones"
 			testFile, err := ginkgo_util.CreateTestFile(dcYaml)
 			Expect(err).ToNot(HaveOccurred())
 
 			k := kubectl.ApplyFiles(testFile)
 			ns.ExecAndLog(step, k)
 
-			ns.WaitForDatacenterReady(dcName)
+			// Wait for status to be Unschedulable
+			step = "waiting the nodes to be unschedulable"
+			json := `jsonpath={.status.conditions[?(@.type=="PodScheduled")].status}`
+			k = kubectl.Get(fmt.Sprintf("pod/%s-%s-r1-sts-0", clusterName, dcName)).
+				FormatOutput(json)
+			ns.WaitForOutputContains(k, "False", 30)
+
+			json = `jsonpath={.status.conditions[?(@.type=="PodScheduled")].reason}`
+			k = kubectl.Get(fmt.Sprintf("pod/%s-%s-r1-sts-0", clusterName, dcName)).
+				FormatOutput(json)
+			ns.WaitForOutputContainsAndLog(step, k, "Unschedulable", 30)
 
-			step = "change the config"
-			json := ginkgo_util.CreateTestJson("{\"spec\": {\"config\": {\"cassandra-yaml\": {\"roles_validity\": \"256000ms\"}, \"jvm-server-options\": {\"garbage_collector\": \"CMS\"}}}}")
+			step = "change the config by removing zones"
+			json = `{"spec": { "racks": [{"name": "r1"}, {"name": "r2"}, {"name": "r3"}]}}`
 			k = kubectl.PatchMerge(dcResource, json)
 			ns.ExecAndLog(step, k)
 
 			ns.WaitForDatacenterCondition(dcName, "Updating", string(corev1.ConditionTrue))
 			ns.WaitForDatacenterCondition(dcName, "Updating", string(corev1.ConditionFalse))
+			ns.WaitForDatacenterReady(dcName)
 			ns.WaitForDatacenterOperatorProgress(dcName, "Ready", 1800)
 		})
 	})
diff --git a/tests/testdata/default-three-rack-three-node-dc-zones.yaml b/tests/testdata/default-three-rack-three-node-dc-zones.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..4f258b3b5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/testdata/default-three-rack-three-node-dc-zones.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,54 @@
+apiVersion: cassandra.datastax.com/v1beta1
+kind: CassandraDatacenter
+metadata:
+  name: dc1
+spec:
+  clusterName: cluster1
+  serverType: cassandra
+  serverVersion: "5.0.2"
+  managementApiAuth:
+    insecure: {}
+  size: 3
+  storageConfig:
+      cassandraDataVolumeClaimSpec:
+        storageClassName: standard
+        accessModes:
+          - ReadWriteOnce
+        resources:
+          requests:
+            storage: 1Gi
+  racks:
+    - name: r1
+      affinity:
+        nodeAffinity:
+          requiredDuringSchedulingIgnoredDuringExecution:
+            nodeSelectorTerms:
+              - matchExpressions:
+                  - key: topology.kubernetes.io/zone
+                    operator: In
+                    values:
+                      - europe-north1-a
+    - name: r2
+      affinity:
+        nodeAffinity:
+          requiredDuringSchedulingIgnoredDuringExecution:
+            nodeSelectorTerms:
+              - matchExpressions:
+                  - key: topology.kubernetes.io/zone
+                    operator: In
+                    values:
+                      - europe-north1-b
+    - name: r3
+      affinity:
+        nodeAffinity:
+          requiredDuringSchedulingIgnoredDuringExecution:
+            nodeSelectorTerms:
+              - matchExpressions:
+                  - key: topology.kubernetes.io/zone
+                    operator: In
+                    values:
+                      - europe-north1-c
+  config:
+    jvm-options:
+      initial_heap_size: "512m"
+      max_heap_size: "512m"