diff --git a/pkg/minikube/bootstrapper/kubeadm/kubeadm_test.go b/pkg/minikube/bootstrapper/kubeadm/kubeadm_test.go
index 661ce0a1d2a0..43057185f648 100644
--- a/pkg/minikube/bootstrapper/kubeadm/kubeadm_test.go
+++ b/pkg/minikube/bootstrapper/kubeadm/kubeadm_test.go
@@ -66,7 +66,7 @@ Wants=crio.service
 
 [Service]
 ExecStart=
-ExecStart=/var/lib/minikube/binaries/v1.16.0-beta.1/kubelet --authorization-mode=Webhook --bootstrap-kubeconfig=/etc/kubernetes/bootstrap-kubelet.conf --cgroup-driver=cgroupfs --client-ca-file=/var/lib/minikube/certs/ca.crt --cluster-dns=10.96.0.10 --cluster-domain=cluster.local --container-runtime=remote --container-runtime-endpoint=/var/run/crio/crio.sock --fail-swap-on=false --hostname-override=minikube --image-service-endpoint=/var/run/crio/crio.sock --kubeconfig=/etc/kubernetes/kubelet.conf --pod-manifest-path=/etc/kubernetes/manifests --runtime-request-timeout=15m
+ExecStart=/var/lib/minikube/binaries/v1.16.0-rc.2/kubelet --authorization-mode=Webhook --bootstrap-kubeconfig=/etc/kubernetes/bootstrap-kubelet.conf --cgroup-driver=cgroupfs --client-ca-file=/var/lib/minikube/certs/ca.crt --cluster-dns=10.96.0.10 --cluster-domain=cluster.local --container-runtime=remote --container-runtime-endpoint=/var/run/crio/crio.sock --fail-swap-on=false --hostname-override=minikube --image-service-endpoint=/var/run/crio/crio.sock --kubeconfig=/etc/kubernetes/kubelet.conf --pod-manifest-path=/etc/kubernetes/manifests --runtime-request-timeout=15m
 
 [Install]
 `,
@@ -84,7 +84,7 @@ Wants=containerd.service
 
 [Service]
 ExecStart=
-ExecStart=/var/lib/minikube/binaries/v1.16.0-beta.1/kubelet --authorization-mode=Webhook --bootstrap-kubeconfig=/etc/kubernetes/bootstrap-kubelet.conf --cgroup-driver=cgroupfs --client-ca-file=/var/lib/minikube/certs/ca.crt --cluster-dns=10.96.0.10 --cluster-domain=cluster.local --container-runtime=remote --container-runtime-endpoint=unix:///run/containerd/containerd.sock --fail-swap-on=false --hostname-override=minikube --image-service-endpoint=unix:///run/containerd/containerd.sock --kubeconfig=/etc/kubernetes/kubelet.conf --pod-manifest-path=/etc/kubernetes/manifests --runtime-request-timeout=15m
+ExecStart=/var/lib/minikube/binaries/v1.16.0-rc.2/kubelet --authorization-mode=Webhook --bootstrap-kubeconfig=/etc/kubernetes/bootstrap-kubelet.conf --cgroup-driver=cgroupfs --client-ca-file=/var/lib/minikube/certs/ca.crt --cluster-dns=10.96.0.10 --cluster-domain=cluster.local --container-runtime=remote --container-runtime-endpoint=unix:///run/containerd/containerd.sock --fail-swap-on=false --hostname-override=minikube --image-service-endpoint=unix:///run/containerd/containerd.sock --kubeconfig=/etc/kubernetes/kubelet.conf --pod-manifest-path=/etc/kubernetes/manifests --runtime-request-timeout=15m
 
 [Install]
 `,
@@ -103,7 +103,7 @@ Wants=docker.socket
 
 [Service]
 ExecStart=
-ExecStart=/var/lib/minikube/binaries/v1.16.0-beta.1/kubelet --authorization-mode=Webhook --bootstrap-kubeconfig=/etc/kubernetes/bootstrap-kubelet.conf --cgroup-driver=cgroupfs --client-ca-file=/var/lib/minikube/certs/ca.crt --cluster-dns=10.96.0.10 --cluster-domain=cluster.local --container-runtime=docker --fail-swap-on=false --hostname-override=minikube --kubeconfig=/etc/kubernetes/kubelet.conf --pod-infra-container-image=docker-proxy-image.io/google_containers/pause:3.1 --pod-manifest-path=/etc/kubernetes/manifests
+ExecStart=/var/lib/minikube/binaries/v1.16.0-rc.2/kubelet --authorization-mode=Webhook --bootstrap-kubeconfig=/etc/kubernetes/bootstrap-kubelet.conf --cgroup-driver=cgroupfs --client-ca-file=/var/lib/minikube/certs/ca.crt --cluster-dns=10.96.0.10 --cluster-domain=cluster.local --container-runtime=docker --fail-swap-on=false --hostname-override=minikube --kubeconfig=/etc/kubernetes/kubelet.conf --pod-infra-container-image=docker-proxy-image.io/google_containers/pause:3.1 --pod-manifest-path=/etc/kubernetes/manifests
 
 [Install]
 `,
diff --git a/pkg/minikube/constants/constants.go b/pkg/minikube/constants/constants.go
index 23ac37a44de9..68e70c16dd21 100644
--- a/pkg/minikube/constants/constants.go
+++ b/pkg/minikube/constants/constants.go
@@ -180,10 +180,10 @@ var DefaultISOURL = fmt.Sprintf("https://storage.googleapis.com/%s/minikube-%s.i
 var DefaultISOSHAURL = DefaultISOURL + SHASuffix
 
 // DefaultKubernetesVersion is the default kubernetes version
-var DefaultKubernetesVersion = "v1.16.0-beta.1"
+var DefaultKubernetesVersion = "v1.16.0-rc.2"
 
 // NewestKubernetesVersion is the newest Kubernetes version to test against
-var NewestKubernetesVersion = "v1.16.0-beta.1"
+var NewestKubernetesVersion = "v1.16.0-rc.2"
 
 // OldestKubernetesVersion is the oldest Kubernetes version to test against
 var OldestKubernetesVersion = "v1.11.10"