diff --git a/net/core/netpoll.c b/net/core/netpoll.c
index 09ae2fc41fa9..f537bc05c8c3 100644
--- a/net/core/netpoll.c
+++ b/net/core/netpoll.c
@@ -858,6 +858,10 @@ void __netpoll_cleanup(struct netpoll *np)
 
 	synchronize_srcu(&netpoll_srcu);
 
+	/* At this point, there is a single npinfo instance per netdevice, and
+	 * its refcnt tracks how many netpoll structures are linked to it. We
+	 * only perform npinfo cleanup when the refcnt decrements to zero.
+	 */
 	if (refcount_dec_and_test(&npinfo->refcnt)) {
 		const struct net_device_ops *ops;
 
@@ -867,8 +871,7 @@ void __netpoll_cleanup(struct netpoll *np)
 
 		RCU_INIT_POINTER(np->dev->npinfo, NULL);
 		call_rcu(&npinfo->rcu, rcu_cleanup_netpoll_info);
-	} else
-		RCU_INIT_POINTER(np->dev->npinfo, NULL);
+	}
 }
 EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL(__netpoll_cleanup);