diff --git a/.buildkite/pipeline_pr.py b/.buildkite/pipeline_pr.py
index 33828fb097f4..7ae27854d427 100755
--- a/.buildkite/pipeline_pr.py
+++ b/.buildkite/pipeline_pr.py
@@ -49,7 +49,7 @@
 
 release_grp = group(
     "📦 Release Sanity Build",
-    "./tools/devtool -y sh ./tools/release.sh --libc musl --profile release --make-release",
+    "mkdir -p ./test_results && touch ./test_results/test-report.json && ./tools/devtool -y sh ./tools/release.sh --libc musl --profile release --make-release",
     **defaults_once_per_architecture,
 )
 
diff --git a/.cargo/config b/.cargo/config
index 73375de08a2e..a50af8c383cd 100644
--- a/.cargo/config
+++ b/.cargo/config
@@ -1,6 +1,5 @@
 [build]
 target-dir = "build/cargo_target"
-target = "x86_64-unknown-linux-musl"
 rustflags = [
   "-Wclippy::ptr_as_ptr",
   "-Wclippy::undocumented_unsafe_blocks",
diff --git a/tests/integration_tests/build/test_binary_static_linking.py b/tests/integration_tests/build/test_binary_static_linking.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..fabcb8a66ac0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/integration_tests/build/test_binary_static_linking.py
@@ -0,0 +1,22 @@
+# Copyright 2019 Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates. All Rights Reserved.
+# SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
+"""Tests to check if the release binary is statically linked.
+
+"""
+
+import pytest
+import host_tools.cargo_build as host
+from framework import utils
+
+@pytest.mark.timeout(500)
+def test_firecracker_binary_static_linking():
+    """
+    Test to make sure the firecracker binary is statically linked.
+    """
+    fc_binary_path = host.get_binary("firecracker")
+    _, stdout,stderr = utils.run_cmd(f"file {fc_binary_path}")
+    assert "" in stderr
+    # expected "statically linked" for aarch64 and
+    # "static-pie linked" for x86_64
+    assert "statically linked" in stdout or \
+           "static-pie linked" in stdout
diff --git a/tools/devtool b/tools/devtool
index f6e990a7aad1..fb20139ff131 100755
--- a/tools/devtool
+++ b/tools/devtool
@@ -483,7 +483,7 @@ cmd_build() {
 }
 
 function cmd_make_release {
-    cmd_test -- --json-report --json-report-file=test-report.json || die "Tests failed!"
+    cmd_test || die "Tests failed!"
 
     run_devctr \
         --user "$(id -u):$(id -g)" \
diff --git a/tools/release.sh b/tools/release.sh
index 1c84e5106bba..b5cfc6eeb308 100755
--- a/tools/release.sh
+++ b/tools/release.sh
@@ -134,6 +134,16 @@ cargo build --target "$CARGO_TARGET" $CARGO_OPTS --workspace
 
 say "Binaries placed under $CARGO_TARGET_DIR"
 
+# Check static linking:
+# expected "statically linked" for aarch64 and
+# "static-pie linked" for x86_64
+binary_format=$(file $CARGO_TARGET_DIR/firecracker)
+if [[ "$PROFILE" = "release"
+        && "$binary_format" != *"statically linked"*
+        && "$binary_format" != *"static-pie linked"* ]]; then
+    die "Binary not statically linked: $binary_format"
+fi
+
 # # # # Make a release
 if [ -z "$MAKE_RELEASE" ]; then
     exit 0
@@ -157,7 +167,7 @@ cp -v -t "$RELEASE_DIR" LICENSE NOTICE THIRD-PARTY
 check_swagger_artifact src/api_server/swagger/firecracker.yaml "$VERSION"
 cp -v src/api_server/swagger/firecracker.yaml "$RELEASE_DIR/firecracker_spec-$VERSION.yaml"
 
-cp -v tests/test-report.json "$RELEASE_DIR/"
+cp -v test_results/test-report.json "$RELEASE_DIR/"
 
 (
     cd "$RELEASE_DIR"