diff --git a/rhel9/nvidia-driver b/rhel9/nvidia-driver
index 773b2dec..94589962 100755
--- a/rhel9/nvidia-driver
+++ b/rhel9/nvidia-driver
@@ -15,6 +15,8 @@ NVIDIA_PEERMEM_MODULE_PARAMS=()
 TARGETARCH=${TARGETARCH:?"Missing TARGETARCH env"}
 USE_HOST_MOFED="${USE_HOST_MOFED:-false}"
 DNF_RELEASEVER=${DNF_RELEASEVER:-""}
+RHEL_VERSION=${RHEL_VERSION:-""}
+RHEL_MAJOR_VERSION=9
 
 OPEN_KERNEL_MODULES_ENABLED=${OPEN_KERNEL_MODULES_ENABLED:-false}
 [[ "${OPEN_KERNEL_MODULES_ENABLED}" == "true" ]] && KERNEL_TYPE=kernel-open || KERNEL_TYPE=kernel
@@ -43,27 +45,29 @@ _cleanup_package_cache() {
     fi
 }
 
-_resolve_rhel_version() {
-    if [ -f /host-etc/os-release ]; then
-        echo "Resolving RHEL version..."
-        local version=""
-        local id=$(cat /host-etc/os-release | grep ^ID= | awk -F= '{print $2}' | sed -e 's/^"//' -e 's/"$//')
-        if [ "${id}" = "rhcos" ]; then
-            version=$(cat /host-etc/os-release | grep RHEL_VERSION | awk -F= '{print $2}' | sed -e 's/^"//' -e 's/"$//')
-        elif [ "${id}" = "rhel" ]; then
-            version=$(cat /host-etc/os-release | grep VERSION_ID | awk -F= '{print $2}' | sed -e 's/^"//' -e 's/"$//')
-        fi
-        if [ -z "${version}" ]; then
-            echo "Could not resolve RHEL version" >&2
-            return 1
-        fi
-        RHEL_VERSION="${version}"
-        echo "Proceeding with RHEL version ${RHEL_VERSION}"
+_get_rhel_version_from_kernel() {
+    local rhel_version_underscore rhel_version_arr
+    rhel_version_underscore=$(echo "${KERNEL_VERSION}" | sed 's/.*el\([0-9]\+_[0-9]\+\).*/\1/g')
+    # For e.g. :- from the kernel version 4.18.0-513.9.1.el8_9, we expect to extract the string "8_9"
+    if [[ ! ${rhel_version_underscore} =~ ^[0-9]+_[0-9]+$ ]]; then
+        echo "Unable to resolve RHEL version from kernel version" >&2
+        return 1
+    fi
+    IFS='_' read -r -a rhel_version_arr <<< "$rhel_version_underscore"
+    if [[ ${#rhel_version_arr[@]} -ne 2 ]]; then
+        echo "Unable to resolve RHEL version from kernel version" >&2
+        return 1
+    fi
+    RHEL_VERSION="${rhel_version_arr[0]}.${rhel_version_arr[1]}"
+    echo "RHEL VERSION successfully resolved from kernel: ${RHEL_VERSION}"
+    return 0
+}
 
-        # set dnf release version as rhel version by default
-        if [[ -z "${DNF_RELEASEVER}" ]]; then
-            DNF_RELEASEVER="${RHEL_VERSION}"
-        fi
+_resolve_rhel_version() {
+    _get_rhel_version_from_kernel || RHEL_VERSION="${RHEL_MAJOR_VERSION}"
+    # set dnf release version as rhel version by default
+    if [[ -z "${DNF_RELEASEVER}" ]]; then
+        DNF_RELEASEVER="${RHEL_VERSION}"
     fi
     return 0
 }
@@ -717,7 +721,7 @@ reload_nvidia_peermem() {
     exit 1
 }
 
-# probe by gpu-opertor for liveness/startup checks for nvidia-peermem module to be loaded when MOFED drivers are ready
+# probe by gpu-operator for liveness/startup checks for nvidia-peermem module to be loaded when MOFED drivers are ready
 probe_nvidia_peermem() {
     if lsmod | grep mlx5_core > /dev/null 2>&1; then
         if [ ! -f /sys/module/nvidia_peermem/refcnt ]; then