diff --git a/.changelog/17041.txt b/.changelog/17041.txt
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..a770937d5dd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changelog/17041.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+```release-note:improvement
+connect: do not restrict automatic envoy versioning to docker driver
+```
diff --git a/client/allocrunner/taskrunner/envoy_version_hook.go b/client/allocrunner/taskrunner/envoy_version_hook.go
index 9438d6c8e44..eb168608abc 100644
--- a/client/allocrunner/taskrunner/envoy_version_hook.go
+++ b/client/allocrunner/taskrunner/envoy_version_hook.go
@@ -122,8 +122,6 @@ func (_ *envoyVersionHook) interpolateImage(task *structs.Task, env *taskenv.Tas
 // its envoy proxy version resolved automatically.
 func (h *envoyVersionHook) skip(request *ifs.TaskPrestartRequest) bool {
 	switch {
-	case request.Task.Driver != "docker":
-		return true
 	case !request.Task.UsesConnectSidecar():
 		return true
 	case !h.needsVersion(request.Task.Config):
@@ -158,6 +156,10 @@ func (h *envoyVersionHook) needsVersion(config map[string]interface{}) bool {
 		return false
 	}
 
+	if _, exists := config["image"]; !exists {
+		return false
+	}
+
 	image := h.taskImage(config)
 
 	return strings.Contains(image, envoy.VersionVar)
diff --git a/client/allocrunner/taskrunner/envoy_version_hook_test.go b/client/allocrunner/taskrunner/envoy_version_hook_test.go
index a2dd3be58ea..ca20d7c309e 100644
--- a/client/allocrunner/taskrunner/envoy_version_hook_test.go
+++ b/client/allocrunner/taskrunner/envoy_version_hook_test.go
@@ -272,6 +272,7 @@ func TestTaskRunner_EnvoyVersionHook_Prestart_custom(t *testing.T) {
 	// Setup an Allocation
 	alloc := mock.ConnectAlloc()
 	alloc.Job.TaskGroups[0].Tasks[0] = mock.ConnectSidecarTask()
+	alloc.Job.TaskGroups[0].Tasks[0].Driver = "podman"
 	alloc.Job.TaskGroups[0].Tasks[0].Config["image"] = "custom-${NOMAD_envoy_version}:latest"
 	allocDir, cleanupDir := allocdir.TestAllocDir(t, logger, "EnvoyVersionHook", alloc.ID)
 	defer cleanupDir()